


Bedding

by morethanjustpretty



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-18 21:01:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 59
Words: 43,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8175961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morethanjustpretty/pseuds/morethanjustpretty
Summary: After their marriage is arranged, Jon and Sansa find the Bedding...complicated.





	1. Chapter 1

On their wedding night, Sansa wasn’t sure what to make of her husband when dumped into a bed naked with him. The crowd had had their fun and she knew what, obviously, was to come next-or at least she thought so.  
Jon’s eyes were immediately alert under the sheets listening to the footfalls as they exited their chambers. Sansa watched him not pay any heed to her nudity, beyond a leering glance as her naked form was quickly displayed for him, before being bundled with him in the bedding and tossed together into the mattress. She sensed, even then, that the leer was not genuine, but couldn’t be entirely sure.  
The door closed and the crude comments and suggestions began. He carefully lifted his head up and out of the covers to ensure they were, at last, alone.  
When he was satisfied, he slid from the bed and made a ‘hush’ gesture toward her. His behavior was getting more and more odd. She watched as he sneaked a bundle out from under their bed and tossed her a nightgown.  
“But. ..” Sansa began and was immediately halted by the dark look he gave her.  
Everything was so odd.  
She pulled the nightgown over her head and watched as her husband pulled on his small clothes. He then pounced unexpectedly on their bed and started to make it creak.  
Sansa was so bothered by his behavior that she lifted her leg to exit their bed.  
His hand shot out and grabbed her leg at the knee. She looked at him surprised but just as she opened her mouth to comment, he tickled her behind her knee-her most ticklish spot. The surge of giggles and kicks that emanated from her was loud and uncontrolled. He continued to tickle as she called out his name “Jon” and flailed to be released from his vice-like grip. Sansa managed to land a couple of hard kicks to his chest near the end and he groaned audibly.  
Then he stopped. All motion. All rocking. All tickling. All creaking.  
“Jon, how….” Sansa began only to have a large hand clamp over her mouth.  
He was leaned closely over her; almost the entire length of his body pressed to hers. Sansa could smell musk and sweat and a faint trace of rosemary on his person. With her eyes wide she watched as her husband watched their chamber door.  
Hoots and hollers could be heard as the crowd banged fists against the door and then seemed to leave seeking more merriment.  
Sansa held her breath. It was all an act to get the crowd to believe they had consummated when really it was going to happen with just the two of them: alone.  
Satisfied they were gone he lifted his hand off her mouth and smiled genuinely down at her.  
“Jon, what was that about? ” Sansa asked in a whisper.  
“We needed to be rid of them” he replied before rolling off her person and landing on his back next to her.  
Sansa lay and wait for several minutes wondering when her half-brother, now cousin, now husband was going to take her.  
“Goodnight Sansa,” he said softly before he turned slightly and kissed her temple.  
“Goodnight Jon, ” she replied confused.  
Moments later he began to snore.


	2. 2

Sansa spent the better part of her wedding night mystified. Jon seemed to pay no heed, as he slept like the dead next to her.  
One moon ago it was suggested by many that they marry. It was a solid match, securing the North and giving the very Southern Queen a foothold in the vast North. It had become quite clear early on, that it was Jon’s job to expand to beyond a foothold and gain favor for the dragon Queen with his northern bride by his side.  
So they wed despite being raised as siblings, however false that truly was, and despite her marriage to Tryrion Lannister still being technically valid. Sure, he had renounced it officially as never being consummated, but no proper un-binding had taken place.  
And now the light was drifting into their room and Sansa had still not puzzled out what exactly was to happen between she and Jon.  
Their reunion had been sweet, made all the sweeter by their joint counsel. He valued her opinion and, although a couple of times she needed to remind him off her value, he listened carefully to her ideas. Sansa wasn’t just a sister, or a silly woman, she was Jon’s counsel and, as such enjoyed an active role in planning the attack on Ramsey.  
“Ramsey” Sansa exhaled as she turned to look at Jon’s sleeping face. Perhaps that was the reason he hadn’t taken her? He knew some details of what Ramsey had done to her at Winterfell, perhaps he was being kind?  
She looked at his soft face and his long eye lashes and knew that must be the case. Her brother. …she stopped herself from thinking of him that way and corrected herself. ..Jon would not want to upset her or hurt her. He was waiting until this morning, where in the light of day, she could see he wasn’t Ramsey, could know the difference. Sansa smiled to herself and thought of how kind her husband was.  
“You’re awake, ” Jon mumbled sleepily next to her as he lazily rolled into his side to face her.  
“I am, ” Sansa replied, leaving out that she’d not started sleep to begin with.  
“You look. …off” Jon commented as he observed her carefully.  
“Strange bed” Sansa merely replied. She smiled faintly at him wondering when he would finally get on her.  
“If you’d prefer your own chambers. ..” Jon began as he wiped sleep from his eyes.  
“No, we aren’t from the south,” Sansa quickly interrupted. “we don’t need to give them more reminders of half your blood”  
Jon chuckled at her comment and rolled back into his back.  
“ No, we don’t want to do that. ”  
They lay silently next to each other for a long time. Sansa wondered if he was still hesitant but couldn’t bring herself to let him know it was okay. Afterall, that was what a husband and wife did, and they were that now.  
“Can I trouble you to use the chamber pot in the dressing room? ” Jon asked sheepishly.  
“Now? ” Sansa asked, confused.  
“If you wouldn’t mind? ” Jon asked as he covered his eyes with his arm.  
“Of course, ” Sansa replied as she stood from their bed, righted her nightgown and padded into their dressing room closing the door behind her.  
She stood in the room just looking at the closed door and wondering why the odd request. Was it important she vacate herself before the act? Was there something Jon knew that she didn’t? Did a wife with no urine inside her guarantee a heir? Sansa stopped her questions after some time and finally vacated herself in her chamber pot before re joining her husband.  
But when she entered the room he was half clothed already.  
“Jon? ” she queried.  
“The counsel needs us at breakfast” he said hardly looking at her. “ I’m sorry but there will be no more bed lounging today my lady. ”  
“But. ..” Sansa gasped.  
Jon walked past her into the dressing room and shut the door behind him. Sansa was left looking at their messy bed and wondering what she had done wrong.


	3. 3

One more night passed and it was just as odd.  
Jon came to bed so heavy with drink he barely reached the mattress before solidly falling into it and Sansa below him.  
“Jon” she huffed as she pushed at the shoulder that was digging into her chest.  
“Oh…ah, sorry” he mumbled groggily as he attempted to push off her.  
“Oh” she gasped as his attempt brought their lower bodies even closer and his member could have breached her had there not been breaches between them.  
He huffed and her eyes caught his. So this was how it was to be? A drunken toss.  
She watched the message behind his eyes go from surprise to lust to….something altogether different.  
He pulled away from her quickly and almost jumped from the bed; suddenly sober, it seemed.  
“I…I…” he stammered as he backed away from the bed.  
“ Jon, ” she reached out a hand toward him as if he was a frightened animal.  
“I have to. ..” he mumbled as he turned and walked toward the dressing room, shutting the door harshly.  
Sansa got up from their bed and wrapped a robe around her thin form. She needed to find out if he was getting sick so she could help him or, at least, call his squire.  
“Jon? ” she asked cautiously as she pushed open the door quietly.  
She saw him turn suddenly away from her, his member in his hand.  
“I’m sorry, ” she said suddenly self conscious. “I thought you’d taken sick”  
“I’m fine Sansa, please leave me, ” Jon said, his voice sounding ragged.  
“Oh, yes, of course, ”  
Sansa was just about to leave him to urinate in private when her eye suddenly caught both their chamber pots sitting near the door; no where near where Jon was currently standing.  
She started to open her mouth to alert him of this when realization hit her. He was not urinating. Not at all. His member in his hand had an entirely different purpose. He was spilling seed into his hand that should be in her.  
Feeling ashamed that her husband had to do this, Sansa quickly scurried from the room and leaned heavily against the door once it was shut.  
He didn’t return to their bed for almost an hour; as if to ensure she was asleep and he wouldn’t have to face her. She feigned sleep and when she felt the bed dip behind her it was as if a thousand swords had run through her. Jon. …her husband…. found her so un appealing he would rather pleasure himself than seek pleasure from her.


	4. 4

Sansa had sat in counsel all morning listening to Jon’s advisors come up with a plan to sway the Mernish house to their side and she’d barely heard a word.  
She wasn’t a small woman who worried only about the running a household and, seriously, she cared about getting more families onto their side, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Jon. About Jon’s clear rejection of her.  
It wasn’t like she was in love with the man in any romantic sense. But she did love him. And more importantly, Sansa liked him. She thought they could get over any early discomfort and make a good life together. She could bear heirs and they could learn to possibly love each other in a romantic way, one day. Rule fairly and honestly. Work as a team. He had actively included her on any discussions and plans, and she thought they would figure out the bedding, but. …  
“Sansa? ” Jon asked as she broke from her reverie to see all eyes focused on her.  
“I’m sorry, my Lord? ” Sansa asked confused.  
Jon was looking annoyed and everyone around her was looking impatient.  
All Sansa could do was stare at him blankly before dropping her eyes onto her lap.  
“Can everyone give us the room? ” Jon asked with some bite.  
All of the counsel rose quickly and exited the room while Sansa felt her cheeks redden and her palms start to sweat.  
“Perhaps if you repeat. ..” Sansa began nervously after she heard the door close.  
Jon banged his fist down hard on the large table they had gathered at. Sansa watched as all the cups jumped and spilled ale.  
“You haven’t been here this entire time! ” He snapped as he circled to stand across the table from her.  
He leaned heavily on his hands and his eyes focused on her.  
“I’m sorry Jon, ” she offered truthfully. “I’ll retire if you wish, or…”  
“ What I wish for is my wife’s counsel, ” Jon snapped as he stared intently at her. “ What I want is your insight”  
Sansa nodded but she couldn’t help thinking. ‘You don’t want anything else from me’.  
“I’m sorry, ” Sansa said honestly.  
Jon sighed and took a deep cleansing breath.  
“What has so preoccupied your thoughts that the Mernish House is of no consequence to you? ” He asked, his voice finally a normal tone and volume.  
“Nothing that should concern you, my Lord,” Sansa said as she fidgeted with her fingers.  
“Oh bloody stop ‘my Lording’ Sansa and just tell me what’s the matter, ” Jon huffed.  
“I promise to be fully involved in all counsel meetings henceforth, ” Sansa said, avoiding the request.  
Jon shook his head. Her avoidance had not been lost on him. He stood back up and walked around the table until he was behind her. He leaned in close to her ear. Again Sansa could smell the musk, the sweat, the rosemary on him.  
“No one knows these families like you do. I need your strategy, I need your ideas, I need you. ”  
Sansa felt her skin tingle at his smell; his request.  
She gulped audibly and nodded her head slowly.  
“This is why you are my wife Sansa” Jon said before he kissed her cheek and pulled back so he was standing behind her.  
Sansa closed her eyes and took a moment to realize how truly dumb she was. That was all he wanted from her; not her body or heirs. He wanted her position, her counsel, her connections. She had been stupid to think he wanted more. Stupid to think this could be a proper marriage.  
“Of course, ” she said carefully and Sansa hoped he didn’t hear the hitch in her voice.


	5. 5

Four moon cycles passed and the Lord and Lady of Winterfell found a routine of sorts. They worked steadily on securing more Northern Houses for the Dragon Queen while all the time living innocently together.  
Jon still exhibited strange behaviors such as tickling her on occasion and a couple of times a week spending time in the dressing room by himself in the early morning or before bed.  
Her maids took every upset stomach as the sign of a babe in her belly and the Old Maester regularly inquired about her cycles. She knew all of Winterfell awaited news she was with child. Sansa wasn’t sure if Jon felt the same pressure as she.  
Regardless, you had to have sex to bare a babe and nothing even remotely close to that had happened between them. They slept innocently, each changing candidly, each keeping their space in the marital bed. Except for an innocent peck on the check, forehead, or temple, or possibly a hand at her back, nothing had come of them.  
Sam Tarly arrived one afternoon to much fanfare from Jon. There was a wonderful celebration that night and Jon named Sam the new Maester of Winterfell. Jon was well into his cups when Sansa rose to leave and, quite uncharacteristically, he rose as well and bid everyone to continue the celebration without the King and Queen. Several lewd comments came from the back tables as Jon escorted Sansa to their rooms.  
His walk was faulty but she couldn’t help smile at his jovial nature. He was in great spirits with his friend returned to him and that made Sansa happy.  
“Sam is a good man to have at your side, ” Jon said as they entered their room and Sansa’s maid scurried to help her lady walk the King to his bed.  
“You are dismissed, ” Jon said to the maid as she took his arm.  
“But Jon…” Sansa started.  
“I do not wish to embarrass myself” Jon said in a loud whisper. Sansa and her maid, Fanny, stifled a laugh at his antics.  
“Your squire my King?” Fanny asked.  
“My wife and I shall manage, ” Jon insisted as he leaned against the wall for support.  
Fanny left quickly and Sansa found herself alone with a King that needed undressing.  
“Sit on the bed Jon,” Sansa directed as she took his arm and assisted.  
Jon did as he was told and she knelt to take of his boots. With much pulling, his feet were finally released and he flopped back into the bed.  
Sansa pulled his breaches down and threw them over a chair leaving his small clothes in place. She then climbed on the bed next to him and attempted to pull his arms from his vest.  
Jon started to chuckle and Sansa found herself joining in a she leaned over his body and tried to extract his far arm.  
“You find this funny? ” She chuckled with him.  
“I do, ” he smiled up at her.  
It was then that Sansa noticed how close their faces were. She looked down at Jon’s suddenly serious features and felt as if her breath had been taken from her lungs. He reached up and gingerly tucked a loose stand of hair behind her ear.  
“Gods you are beautiful, ” he sighed as he gazed at her features.  
“Thank you, ” Sansa whispered as she leaned toward him, happy he at least acknowledged she was different from Davos.  
She and Jon remained frozen in close contact just looking at each other for a long time.  
“Jon, I think we need to. ..”  
“You need to get off me now, ” Jon said as he pushed her roughly to the side and sat up quickly.  
“What. ..?” Sansa asked as she watched him launch himself across the room to their dressing room and slam the door.  
It was then that Sansa heard retching happening in the other room. His cups had caught up with him.  
She lay on the bed and sighed as she looked toward the ceiling


	6. 6

“I’m going to need the your permission to examine the Queen,” Sam announced one night as the three of them sat talking after dinner.  
It had become a habit of Jon’s to dismiss others one night a week so he and Sansa could just talk with Sam. They didn’t talk about strategy or white walkers or anything of importance, but rather childhood experiences, myths and legends. Sansa believed Jon enjoyed the time to just relax and be with the two people he trusted most in the world. Sansa loved seeing her husband relax and to banter with them both.  
“I’m sorry? ” Jon asked, half chuckling.  
“Well, not to be in delicate,” Sam said cautiously eyeing them both. “But the Queen is. …”  
“Please just say Sansa and Jon, as I have asked,” Jon sighed.  
“After this many months of. …trying…the Qu….Sansa should be with child but she is not, ” Sam said red-faced.  
Sansa quickly looked at Jon surprised. He hadn’t even told Sam that there was no bedding.  
Jon cleared his throat and scratched his neck.  
“I’m sorry to have to do this but I’ve got to check and see if there’s any sort of impediment preventing. …”  
Sansa was sure, from the look on Jon’s face, he was going to confess there had been no intercourse.  
“Can’t you just examine me instead? ” Jon interrupted as he looked anywhere but at Sansa.  
Sansa found her breath hitch. He wasn’t even to tell Sam they had truly only been sleeping together.  
“Jon, in all fairness, ” Sam laughed. “ I know you are fully capable. ”  
Both Jon and Sansa looked at him surprised.  
“ Well, you see. .. when we were in the Knight’s Watch I saw you first of the morning and you were. ..capable.”  
Jon swallowed hard and nodded and Sansa couldn’t help the blush creeping up her throat.  
“And I’ve also been informed by Fanny of evidence of coupling, which I wanted to. ..”  
“What evidence? ” Sansa asked intrigued. Was a messy bed evidence enough? Her upset stomach?  
“Jon’s seed on your linens and in your urine, ” Sam said quite matter-of-factly.  
Sansa felt her head snap involuntarily toward Jon who wouldn’t meet her eyes. How had…?  
Then it suddenly all came together. His tickling her. His time relieving himself in the dressing room. The morning requests for her to vacate herself followed by a need for the two of them to go somewhere immediately.  
He had been playing the game for them both without her knowledge. Jon had been leaving evidence that what wasn’t happening, was. As far as anyone’s knowledge, they had been copulating regularly. All evidence of a creaking bed, a laughing wife, messed sheets, seed in her urine, and on their sheets had pointed to that fact. Worst off, she had not been trusted to be an accomplice.  
“Fanny has been informing you of all this evidence? ” Sansa asked as she coolly eyed her husband.  
“It’s common practice of the Maester to know these things, ” Sam explained.  
“Of course it is, ” Sansa said as she met Jon’s eyes. “ I just wish I had been made aware. ”  
Jon swallowed hard and looked pathetically apologetic suddenly. It didn’t temper her upset.  
“I’ve kept track of your cycles, and while you and Jon have not always chosen the best days, there have been enough good ones that a babe should have been produced, ” Sam said as he pulled papers from his pocket.  
“Might I see those Sam?” Sansa asked as she held out her hand.  
“Sansa. ..” Jon began.  
“ I think it’s best to be completely informed, ” she said coolly as she regarded the papers.  
“I’ve noted your cycles on this chart,” Sam explained excitedly. “And the best days to produce an heir are marked with this symbol. ..”  
“A direwolf? ” Sansa chuckled. “How fitting. ”  
“I thought you’d both like that, ” Sam smiled.  
“And the days Fanny has found evidence are marked here, ” Sam continued to explain.  
Sansa looked up to see Jon rubbing his forehead as if fending off a headache.  
“These are quite thorough, ” Sansa remarked loudly. “And you are correct, we have been very. ..active”  
She looked pointedly at Jon and he apologized with his eyes. Sansa was sure he was finally going to let his friend in on the deception and she’d be able to have it out with him over keeping this from her as well.  
“I don’t want Sansa examined, ” Jon said with an air of finality. “She has lived through enough with Ramsey Bolton and I won’t subject her to any further…”  
“Any further what? ” Sansa inquired, curious.  
“Trauma, ” Jon said sadly as he looked at her softly. “You shouldn’t be harmed any further.”  
Sansa felt her breath catch in her throat. Tonight was one of revelations. Jon married her to keep her safe from other men. He carried on with this farce of a sex life to protect her. He thought she was a fragile bird harmed by her tormentor for the remainder of her days. He’d sacrificed himself, his heirs, his manhood, so she could be free.  
Sansa felt hot tears build in her eyes and she couldn’t help it when they started to freely fall. Jon was out of his chair in an instant pulling her toward him and comforting her.  
“They’ll be no more talk of this again Sam,” Jon said with conviction. “ My wife will not be bothered about any of this again”  
He pulled her even tighter and kissed the top of her head. Softly whispering calming endearments into her hair.  
Sansa cried like a child gripping him fiercely and allowing all he had done for her to wash over her entire being. No one had ever sacrificed so much. …loved her that much.  
When she finally pulled herself together, Sansa wiped her eyes and looked up at Jon while she spoke with Sam.  
“Jon cannot sit in a fruitless throne, ” She said as she saw Jon nod his head infinitesimally in the negative. “I want to give him an heir, he deserves one and the North needs one if we are going to continue to rule.”  
“Sansa…” Jon began with a pleading voice.  
“ I am not as damaged as my husband believes, ” Sansa said as she cupped Jon’s face. “And I think birthing a babe will cleanse all former horrors away. I need this, as does my husband, and the North.”  
“But Sansa…” Jon started with a solid gulp of his throat.  
“ I’ll need you to inform me of dates Sam, so we may make the best use of Jon’s seed, ” Sansa said, still not taking her eyes off her husband. “He will have an heir and I’ll be the one to give him that, after all he had given me. ”  
Sansa leaned forward and kissed a dumbfounded Jon softly on his cheek.


	7. 7

Sansa rode her horse Pearl behind Jon and wondered how far away he needed to get before they spoke. Last night, after all the revelations and the conversation with Sam Jon and she had retired.  
When they reached the door to their room he simply said “tomorrow” and they hadn’t had further discussion.  
They retired together and, although neither slept soundly, they had slept. When she woke in the morning she found her husband gone and Fanny scurrying about her room preparing riding clothes. Apparently, Jon had gone for an early ride alone and had informed Fanny that his wife should be prepared to ride upon his return. Fanny had been anxious Sansa had slept too long and wouldn’t be ready when the King arrived back.  
Now as she rode steadily behind him Sansa wondered what she was going to say to this man. Her husband. Her cousin. Her former half-brother.  
Jon finally stopped at the edge of a rolling frozen creek and waited for her to stop next to him.  
“Here? ” He asked her gruffly. He looked as if he hadn’t slept and all the riding this morning gave him an even more mournful appearance.  
Sansa nodded and waited for him to dismount before taking his hand to dismount herself.  
“Thank you, ” she said as she met his eyes. She meant to thank him for more than this one bit of assistance but she would eventually get to that.  
Join reached behind his saddle and pulled out a blanket to lay on the snow-covered ground. It was an isolated spot; peaceful and beautiful.  
“Do you always keep a blanket? ” Sansa asked, trying to break the tension as she sat and arranged her skirts.  
“That blanket has kept me safe in dire circumstances,” Jon said with a smirk that told her there were stories with this blanket.  
“I’ll have to remember that if I ride alone a blanket is a trusty friend, ” Sansa joked quietly.  
“I’d prefer if you wouldn’t, ” Jon said as he lay a gloved hand in her leg. “Riding alone is dangerous for a Queen.”  
“I’m not a porcelain doll, Jon, ” Sansa started. “I have been in worse situations, horrible situations, and not broken. Why do you suspect you’ll be the one to break me? ”  
“You didn’t deserve any of those situations,” Jon said honestly as he looked into her eyes. “I wish I could right it all.”  
“I know you wish you could,” Sansa said honestly as she lay her hand over his. “But you can’t. No one can. And denying yourself heirs when. ..”  
“I won’t traumatize you further!” Jon said forcefully.  
“But how ever could you? ” Sansa asked, confused. “Do you plan to rape me? Whip me? Sodomize me? Humiliate me? ”  
“Of course not! But you deserve to be free of any man’s touch for the remainder of your days,” he said honestly, quietly.  
“ And that’s why you took it upon yourself to marry me? To keep me from that horror? ” Sansa asked angered. “To not even inform me you were doing this? To play me as you did the others? !”  
She hadn’t meant to be angry but she suddenly found herself unable to control it.  
“Sansa, you are my sister. ..”  
“So I’m just a stupid woman to be manouvered? ” Sansa asked, trying to tame herself. “Do you really want my counsel or is that just lies as well? ”  
“Of course I want that,” he said earnestly as he looked at her reddening face. “You’re far more brilliant at that than I am.”  
“So you were to pretend I was your wife for all of our days? What would happen when I didn’t produce an heir? When one of the maids was suddenly with your bastard? !”  
Jon sucked in his breath and leaned back, away from her and her accusations.  
“I wouldn’t. ..” he said as he shook his head.  
“Everyone would talk about my barren womb and the little bastard boy that was the spitting image of his father! ” Sansa choked out.  
“Sansa, I’d never do that to you,” Jon said truthfully. “Or to any child. I know what it is like to be raised a bastard.”  
Her breath caught in her throat and she knew in that moment he was completely honest.  
“So you were pledging to live your days chaste? ” Sansa asked startled.  
“I agreed to that when I married you,” Jon said softly. “ So stop all your talk about babes and seed and heirs. It’s not going to happen. And I’m sorry you won’t have babes of your own, but you will be free of every man’s touch.”  
“But Jon. ..”  
“You are my sister and it would be wrong, ” he said by way of stopping her argument.  
“But I’m not, ” she said clearly.  
He sucked in a breath and looked at her pointedly.  
“You are in my mind. And I’m your brother in yours.”  
Sansa’s forehead crinkled and she thought for a moment.  
“Am I really better at this than you? ” She asked. “This strategy?”  
Jon nodded.  
“Any good strategist would say you needed to secure the throne with an heir, ” Sansa explained.  
“But Sansa. ..”  
“ Hear me out!” She cautioned. “Sam has the dates and the charts. We could give you an heir using those. That should satisfy your ethical dilemma, the safety of our family, the throne, and give me a babe all in one act.”  
“ A babe by your brother, ” he cautioned.  
“It wasn’t my brother that almost penetrated me accidentally that one night, ” Sansa laughed. “And it isn’t my brother I’m married to. It’s my cousin. The line would be safe from madness. And no one seems to think you my brother, but you. ”  
“But I think it, ” Jon said softly.  
“ I think you want to think it, ” Sansa said as she touched his thigh and watched his manhood immediately twitch. “Because it’s safer to think that, then think of me as a woman. A wife.”  
Jon pushed her hand off his thigh and stood, walking a few paces and turning his back to her.  
“I don’t think of you as my brother, ” Sansa explained.  
He stood in silence a long time before speaking.  
“After everything Ramsey did to you. …I’d think having a man heaving on top of you would be the last thing. …”  
“But you’re not Ramsey.” Sansa said as she stood and walked toward him. “You are, in fact, the farthest thing from Ramsey I could ever imagine. If you were anything like him, I’d never let you come near me. Ramsey would have never just slept with me all these months as you have.”  
“I’m still a man, Sansa, ” Jon said quietly.  
“You’re a good man, ” she said as she touched his back. “I meant what I said about a babe making me better. I do think it. ”  
“But the act. ..” he stammered.  
“We’ll make it work.” She coaxed. “I will tell you if there’s anything you can’t do and you’ll be gentle with me. You need an heir Jon, no matter how much you deny it. And I need. ..”  
“A babe, ” he said quietly.  
“Yes, but I also need to know that it doesn’t need to be. ..like that. Humiliation and pain. I need your help wiping that clear. ”  
Jon turned and looked at her.  
“Jon you think you’ve been protecting me by not touching me, but the entire time I’ve thought that. ..”  
“You’ve thought, what? ” Jon asked confused.  
“I’ve thought I was too violated, too unattractive, too tainted for you to touch, ” Sansa said as tears welled in her eyes.  
“Oh gods, Sansa, no…” he said as he caught both her shoulders with his hands.  
“Well that’s what I…” Sansa cried.  
“You’re not dirty or unattractive. ..Sansa, you are the farthest from. ..”  
Sansa laughed through her tears.  
“Thank you for thinking you would save me Jon, ” She said as she looked at him through her tears. “I came here to say just that to you, and instead I yelled and. ..”  
“No other two people could have mucked this up more,” he chuckled. “ I do love you Sansa. And I will try to get beyond how I see you. That I can promise you. ”  
“We will do this Jon, and I think it will all work just fine, for everyone, ” she reassured him with a smile


	8. 8

It could have possibly been the most uncomfortable conversation she’d ever had with any man.  
“The seed needs to stay inside if it’s to make a babe,” Sam explained as he pointed at a diagram.  
“Sam, I don’t think. ..” Sansa began as she took the diagram from his hands and laid it flat on the table.  
“And it would help if you raised you legs above your head for thirty minutes afterwards, ” Sam continued.  
“Oh isn’t that quite the image!” Sansa gasped.  
“Well, it would be best,” Sam said shyly. “Even if it is unladylike. You…you could ask Jon to leave so as not to. ..”  
“Make him uncomfortable with my bottom in full view?”  
Sam chuckled. “I was going to say you should ask him to leave so he isn’t enticed for a second act. ”  
Sansa laughed loudly and Sam blushed crazily.  
“Sam, you and Gilly. ..do you only…uh. ..is it always at night?”  
“You mean when we lay together?” Sam asked nervously.  
Sansa nodded.  
“Not. ..not always,” Sam conceded. “Gilly is one for surprises and sometimes …sometimes she corners me and. ..”  
“She initiates?” Sansa asked surprised.  
“Gilly is free folk and…and they aren’t. ..well, our rules. ..”  
“It’s okay, I understand,” Sansa interrupted.  
“You prefer the daylight?” Sam asked.  
“It’s just with my history. ..I think light may be my friend,” Sansa explained.  
“I don’t know the details, ” Sam admitted. “But if you feel daylight would help you relax, then I suggest just that.”  
Sansa nodded.  
“And I’ll speak with Jon and explain what he can do to help relax you,” Sam explained.  
“He does…he does something besides. ..?”  
“Oh yes, there are many things, ” Sam nodded as he shuffled through his papers and pulled out one to show her. It was a rendering of a man suckling a woman’s nipple.  
“Oh my!” Sansa gasped.  
Sam saw her reaction and then quickly pulled out another rendering. It was of a man and it looked like he was placing something inside a woman’s birth canal.  
“What does he have in his hand? ” Sansa asked, worried.  
“In his what?” Sam asked confused as he moved the picture so he could see it.  
“I can’t see what’s in his hand,” Sansa pointed unsteadily towards the image.  
“There’s. ..there’s nothing in his. ..” Sam started and then stopped as realization hit him.  
Sansa felt ill. Ramsay placing things inside her was supposed to relax her? Sam would advise Jon to do the same?  
“Sansa,” Sam said softly as he reached across the table and gently placed his hand over hers. “There shouldn’t be anything in his hand. ..ever. ”  
“Oh,” Sansa sighed.  
“Nothing should be used on you…no devices or …or implements of any kind. Ever.” Sam said kindly. “Jon would never harm you, Sansa.”  
“I know, ” Sansa said with conviction. “So it’s just his. ..?”  
“Fingers,” Sam said nervously. “Or. ..or his tongue. ”  
Sam pulled out another picture of a man’s face over a woman’s peach.  
“Oh my,” Sansa gasped. “You’re going to show Jon. ..? ”  
“I’m pretty sure Jon already knows, but it never hurts to remind.”  
“What do I know?” Jon asked from behind them. Both Sansa and Sam jumped at his words and papers flew all over the place.  
Sansa scrambled to cover what was in front if her and Sam reached for those on the floor.  
Jon picked up a picture off the floor and looked at it closely. He then turned it half way round and smiled.  
Sansa, with reddened face, watched as he started to chuckle.  
“I do know that,” he chuckled before he handed the paper to Sansa.  
Sansa looked down at the image and gasped.


	9. 9

“So Sam says tomorrow is ideal,” Sansa mentioned as she watched Jon pull on his vest with the help of his squire.

“He told me as much. ” Jon answered as he waited to be completely buckled.

“Day is best, ” Sansa said as she eyed the squire. “So if you could make some time. ..”

“I will, ” Jon nodded as he too eyed his squire Max.

Sansa shifted her feet and waited for more of a response from her husband.

“That’ll be all Max, ” Jon said.

The squire quickly left their dressing room and shut the door behind him.

“Jon, I really think we need to talk. ..”

“Sansa, I’m still trying to wrap my head around. ..”

“You don’t think you’ll be ready? ” Sansa asked disappointed.

“I’m. ..I’m not sure, ” Jon hesitated as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “When’s the next best date?”

“Not for another moon cycle, ” Sansa sighed, knowing this may be a lost cause.

“I can’t promise, ” Jon assured her. “ But I’ll try. ”

“That’s all I ask, ” Sansa smiled at him.

Join walked toward her and placed his hands on her hips.

“You honestly just see me as a man? As your husband? ” He asked as he looked at her carefully.

“I do. ” Sansa answered honestly.

He nodded and started to take his hands of her hips when she grabbed them with her own and held them there.

“Do you see me as a woman? As your wife? ” Sansa asked.

Jon looked at her for a moment and then dropped his eyes from hers.

“I see many things, ” he admitted shyly. “I see my wife, a woman, a victim, a girl with braids… ”

“Do you see your sister? ” Sansa asked, scared of his answer.

“Less and less, ” he admitted.

Sansa couldn’t help the small smile that formed on her lips.

“I suppose I’ll have to accept that, ” Sansa said softly.

Jon leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. It was the first time he’d kissed her since they were married.

“Morning or afternoon? ” Jon asked after they parted.

“When we wake, ” Sansa said as she smiled cautiously up at him.

Jon nodded and shifted his feet.

“Jon?”

“I don’t want to do anything to upset you tomorrow. ..” he hesitated. “Is there anything I should avoid? ”

Sansa pulled back slightly and twisted her fingers together.

“I can’t be. ..oh gods this is hard,” Sansa hesitated.

“It’s just us, right now, ” Jon coaxed as he stepped back to give her space.

“ You can’t ever hold me down,” Sansa explained. “ I can’t be taken from behind. And you need to speak to me. …so I remember it’s you. ”

“Sansa, I’m not sure you’re ready. ..”

“I am, ” she said as she reached out and touched his chest.

He took her hand in his and looked at her long and hard.

“I’m ready Jon,” she repeated. “I need this.”

Jon nodded solemnly and kissed her knuckles before he left the room.


	10. 10

“I can’t believe Lord Frankum would allow his son to send that missive to the King, ” Sansa said as she dropped the note into the table.

“I’m not sure he did, ” Davos replied. “We’ve had some interesting information about Pinehurst lately. ”

“So you think Geos is usurping power? ” Jon confirmed.

“I think Lord Frankum may need the assistance of the King to contain his eldest son and. ..” Davos explained.

“Middle, ” Sansa interrupted. “His eldest son Bete is in Kings Landing married to a Lannister cousin named Pothia”

“And he isn’t claiming Pinehurst? ” Davos asked shocked.

“He’s partially lame, but well cared for in the comfort of Kings Landing. He couldn’t handle the North after the injury,” Sansa explained.

She couldn’t help smile at Jon quite satisfactorily. She was a font of information sometimes.

“If we ride out first thing tomorrow morning we could be there at nightfall and secure a meeting with both father and son,” Davos said as he reached for a quill.

“Not tomorrow, ” Jon said as he looked quickly toward Sansa.

She couldn’t help the blush that crept up her throat.

“But my King, we must respond swiftly and with. ..” Davos began.

Sansa saw Jon swallow hard. He was trying to come up with a reason to delay beyond ‘I must bed my wife’.

“Surely, ” Sansa spoke up. “ The King does not run to every angry missive. Waiting may make Geos more nervous and the Kings arrival more intimidating when there has been a few days waiting and stewing.”

“But I think strength is our ally with this weasel and. ..” Davos started to argue.

“The Queen is right, ” Jon said definitively. “Let him fear the King’s arrival, not expect it. ”

“Yes, your Grace,” Davos nodded.

Sansa could tell Jon liked her reasoning for if it was truly better to go tomorrow he would, bedding or not.

“Ah, the hour is late, ” Davos said apologetically. “I’m sorry to have kept you both. I’ll call the counsel first thing and. ..”

“Tell the counsel to take the day. Pass around the missive so all may read it and think on it. We’ll not convene for two days time, ” Jon explained. “We need to put some thought into this one as our reaction will either stop further letters from other houses or encourage them. ”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then? ” Davos inquired as Jon took Sansa’s hand to walk her to their rooms.

“I’m taking the day with my wife, ” Jon finally relented. “We’ve not had much time together since marrying.”

“Of course your Grace,” Davos nodded as he watched them leave.

They walked in silence towards their rooms and Sansa felt she needed to say something before it went further.

“Jon, if it’s better. ..”

“ No, ” he smiled at her. “ You’re brilliant mind is right as usual. We need to scare the tar out of Geos so he tries nothing like this again. ”

“But the counsel. ..” Sansa said as they walked into their rooms.

“You’re dismissed Fanny, ” Jon said to her maid. “ I can help my wife. ”

Fanny curtsied and left the room.

“The counsel could convene in the afternoon, ” Sansa said as she felt Jon untying the laces at the back of her gown.

“Is tomorrow not the best day on Sam’s calendar? ” Jon asked as the dress loosened off her shoulders and started to drop to the floor.

“ Yes, but one act. ..” Sansa started as she stepped from her dress.

Sansa felt Jon step toward her from behind.

“Sam said we should take advantage of the day, ” Jon said as he untied her corset.

“The day? ” Sansa asked confused.

“He said I should spill into you as much as I could the entire day to ensure the best possible chance, ” Jon explained as she turned to face him with her underclothes, now loosened, held up to her body.

“The day? ” She asked surprised.

“I thought he’d told you as well? ” Jon asked confused.

“Well, ” Sansa stammered. “ He did say 'the day’ but I assumed. …”

Jon noticed her discomfort and took her bare shoulders in his hands.

“We don’t have to. ..”

“No, Sam is right, ” She nodded as she softened her back. “Of course he’s right. It was silly of me to think only once would do the job. ”

“ But Sansa. ..”

She smiled softly at him.

“It’ll be nice Jon, ” She said as she patted his chest and turned to find her night gown.


	11. 11

Sansa sat in the hot tub of steaming water and enjoyed the feeling of the cold air surrounding her and the hot water containing her.

She felt Fanny dump water over her head and Sansa sunk down further into the hot streaming water while she waited for her favorite part, the hair washing, to begin. Closing her eyes she fought sleep as her entire body gave into being cared for.

Fanny’s fingers started to work the soap into her hair. Lathering it and spreading it throughout her locks. Massaging her scalp and working her hair through from start to tip as Sansa relaxed further and further into the tub.

She had not slept well last night knowing what was going to happen today. It wasn’t Jon, that wasn’t the case, it was her expectation she was trying to keep in check. She wanted today to go well, and if it wasn’t terribly different than it was with Ramsey. ..she thought her heart may break. She desperately needed different if this was to work, but was afraid to tell Jon for fear he would call it off.

Fanny started to rinse her hair with warm water and Sansa felt it trickle down both her hair and neck making small splashes against the water in which the rest of her was submerged.

Jon would be different, that she was fairly sure of. It wouldn’t simply be him rutting above her. There would be no taking from behind. No audience. No devices. He would be gentle and caring. If he could even complete the act; feeling still a little like her brother.

Sansa smelled the oil as soon as it was uncorked. It wasn’t the usual one Fanny used on her, but instantly she was reminded of Jon. It was rosemary and she had caught that scent on him often. So, he took care of his long black locks with oil on occasion? It seemed funny to think of him that way-a man who cared for his hair.

“Fanny, that’s the King’s oil, not. ..” Sansa started to say when all speech became impossible.

It wasn’t Fanny massaging oil into her scalp but Jon himself smiling down at her as he did so.

“I didn’t want to scare you by speaking, ” Jon explained. “ You looked almost asleep. ”

“How long have you been there? ” Sansa asked with a smirk.

“Long enough to see why I should have someone wash my hair from now on, ” Jon smirked back.

“Fanny?” Sansa asked as she looked around the steamy room.

“I dismissed my partner in crime,” Jon chuckled as he continued to rub oil in her hair. “Is that enough oil? ”

“It is, ” she smiled up at him. “You are a man of many talents my King. ”

“Do you need anything else? ” He asked as he stood from his stool.

“A linen to dry? ” Sansa said as she made the bold decision to stand in the tub and allow the water to ride down her naked body.

Jon took a couple of steps back and , without turning, felt for a linen on the stand returning to her with it open.

She stepped carefully from the tub with his assistance and allowed him go embrace her with the towel.

“Thank you, ” she said quietly as he held her.

“Sansa…” he huffed onto her wet shoulder.

“ Your turn, ” she said as she stepped back and gestured towards the still steaming tub.

Jon looked at her as if she’d issued a challenge. He stripped quickly and unabashedly and stepped into the streaming tub. She clearly saw that all of him was awake and ready for the task today.

“I’ll need assistance, ” he called out to her as she took a step towards the door. 

Sansa chucked. “Of course you will. ”

She walked from the room and pulled her robe over her shoulders and ran a comb through her hair before returning to see Jon finishing washing his shoulders and chest.

“I thought you’d left me to my own devices, ” he chuckled when he saw her.

“I was just ensuring I didn’t catch a chill your Highness, ” Sansa joked.

“We can’t have a sick Queen,” he conceded.

“So the King who normally bathes himself needs assistance today? ”

“My wife uses this oil in her hair that smells like. ..”

“Lavender, ” Sansa provided.

“Yes, I’d like some of that today after a hair washing, ” he said rather proper.

“Whatever my King desires, ” Sansa chuckled as she walked toward Jon.


	12. 12

“Why rosemary? ” Sansa asked as she rinsed his hair.

“It’s what Nan used when I was a boy, ” Jon explained. “It feels like a luxury when I use it now. ”

“She used rose on my hair, ” Sansa reminisced

“I know, ” Jon noted.

“You do? ” Sansa asked, intrigued.

“Rose is for girls and rosemary for boys” Jon said in his best Nan imitation. “Arya always wanted rosemary. ”

Sansa laughed with him. They had talked about the slim chance Arya was alive and Jon had left word with several houses to forward any information they received about her.

Jon relaxed back into the tub and sighed.

“I could get used to this, ” he said as he closed his eyes. “Maybe Fanny…”

Sansa slapped at his shoulder causing water to splash all over the both of them. Jon laughed heartily and she joined him. It was in that moment that she wished he laughed more and brooded less.

Sansa reached over and opened the oil and started to warm it between her hands.

“Fair trade? ” Jon asked, not opening his eyes.

“Hmm? ” Sansa asked as she suddenly noticed the steam had all but disappeared from the tub and shadowy dark patches had appeared under the milky water.

“ The lavender, ” he clarified.

“Oh, yes, ” she refocused. “You can smell like me now. ”

Jon smirked but said nothing as she twined her fingers through his hair.

She massaged the oil through his dark tresses and looked down at his relaxed face. He was a beautiful creature. And he was hers.

Sansa placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned close to his ear.

“I’m done, but feel free to relax for a bit,” Sansa whispered.

Jon reached up and clasped her hand in his. “Thank you. ”

Sansa smiled down at his relaxed face and his closed eyes and sighed.

When she pulled back her hand he groaned. By the time she was standing, he was hauling himself up from the tub.

“Oh,” Sansa said as she saw him standing in all his naked glory.

She turned to get him a linen and when she turned back around he was standing right in front of her.

Sansa gasped and dropped the linen just as Jon pulled her into a passionate kiss.


	13. 13

Jon kissed Sansa with both passion and reverence. It was if he was showing her his joy, not forcing it on her. It was the first passionate kiss from a man that she had ever enjoyed.

Considering her experience, all other kisses had been either chaste or forceful-not that she’d been kissed much. No man had ever kissed her with this much…thought.

For Sansa, the kiss began as an opening for her. She allowed Jon to explore her with his mouth but then, part way through, she returned the favor, and the satisfied groan it illicited from him invigorated her to explore further.

Despite his complete nudity and her meagre robe, his hands only ventured from her waist once when they caught in her hair and ran through it. Never once was a breast touched, her peach, her bottom, or her robe opened. Not once did he grind against her.

So Sansa relaxed into the kiss and enjoyed this new type of intimacy for the first time in her life. At some point she became bold and moved her hands from his waist to his jaw and held him to her as they kissed.

She wasn’t sure how long they kissed but knew it had been a while when she touched Jon’s shoulder, when brushing hair from his face, and felt ice cold skin.

“Jon, ” she gasped as she broke their kissing session and pulled back to look at him.

Reluctantly he broke their kiss and looked at her confused.

“You’re ice cold, ” she said as she touched his chest and then his back.

“I don’t feel it, ” he said truthfully with a smirk.

“You’ll catch your death, ” she chastised before she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward their bedroom.

He followed easily and, when she pulled back their furs, climbed inside and pulled on her leg for her to join him.

“Just a moment, ” Sansa said as she walked toward the fire in their room and stoked it before manouvering a warm rock onto a plate and carrying it to the foot of their bed where she placed it under the furs.

Satisfied, Sansa walked to the side of the bed and suddenly felt nervous for what was about to happen.

“Sansa? ” He asked, sensing her change.

“Funny, I wasn’t nervous in the dressing room, ” she noted aloud as she fingered the belt on her robe.

“We can go back there, ” Jon offered honestly.

She chuckled at his willingness to help her. He really was that good a man. When Sansa reminded herself of that, it suddenly became easy to undo to robe and get under the furs.

“I’m fine, ” she said truthfully as she crawled naked under the furs.

“Sansa, if you want, we can wait until. ..” Jon began.

She attacked his mouth and stopped all arguments to the contrary. Sansa kissed him with wild inhibition as she pressed her freshly clean body against his. She felt his manhood hard against her thigh and his arms loosely wrapped around her; his hands gently gliding up and down her back.

Much to Sansa’s shock she heard herself groan and mew against his lips. She was both happy and exited by this kissing. It felt powerful to be a willing participant in an intimate act. To know she could stop, could request, could choose to do or not do whatever they agreed to. She felt she had as much, if not more control, over what was about to happen with Jon then he did. And he willingly gave her that as a gift.

That alone made her passage get slick with desire. It surprised her that the mere thought could elicit such a physical response in her. Sansa felt her nipples harden, her peach engorge, her passage wet itself, her skin become extra sensitive. ..

“You are so beautiful, ” Jon said as he pulled back and looked her seriously in the eyes. “I have the most gorgeous wife in the North.”

Sansa smiled at him and pulled him on top of her.

“Sansa, I haven’t. ..” he started to protest.

“I just want. ..this, ” she said quietly as she felt his entire body press against hers. “I want you inside me. ”

He still looked perplexed.

“But if I prepare you. ..” He started to explain.

Sansa placed a finger over his mouth to quiet him and slid her other hand down her body and quickly inside her passage. Her fingers were easily wet. She then brought it up to hold before his face; to demonstrate that there was no need because of the fluid on her fingers.

When Jon realized what she had done, he smiled, leaned down and kissed her soundly, he then did possibly the most erotic thing Sansa had ever been involved in. He sucked her fingers clean of her fluid.

As she was reeling from the erotic act she had just participated in, Jon slowly guided himself into her passage. It felt entirely different to accept a man than have one force his way inside. Her body opened to Jon like a flower, her legs dropping to the sides, her passage moistening, her nipples hardening, her heart racing, and her breath quickening.

“Is that. ..are you alright? ” Jon asked as he looked down at her.

Sansa nodded her head quickly, overcome with the sensation of him in her.

“Sansa, ” he called to her again, a look of worry passing over his face.

Sansa felt her body adjust to his size, his texture.

“Do you need me to stop? Is this too…?”

“Gods no, ” she huffed below him. Sansa felt as if every hair on her body was standing on end.

Jon smiled down at her and she returned the favor.

“You had me worried, ” he admitted.

Sansa reached up and cupped his cheek and smiled lazily at him.

“It’s overwhelmingly wonderful, ” she said slightly out of breath. “I can’t wait to feel the next part. ”

Jon seemed to let out the breath he was holding and slowly started to move inside her. His member gliding easily in and out of her slick passage as he made the most interesting faces above her and she gasped below him. Jon smiled at her a lot and would stop to pepper her lips with tiny kisses before he continued to make her mew and moan and gasp. The sheer variety of sounds he elicited from her was overwhelming.

He said small things to her as they completed the act, things about how she felt, how she looked, how she sounded. He seemed as pleased with her as she was with him and that excited her even more.

And when he sucked an earlobe into his mouth and whispered ‘love’ into her ear Sansa felt as if her body may explode. She felt a rush through her skin, a heat in her passage, and a breathlessness in her lungs.

“Oh gods Jon!” she moaned as she tried to control the overwhelming reaction her body was having. But it was like chasing a wolf, this overwhelming feeling was ahead of her and had a mind of its own.

“Sansa,” he groaned and his body suddenly stiffened.

Sansa finally gave into the feeling in that moment and let it wash over her as Jon’s seed warmed her and his body protected her.


	14. 14

Sansa lay with her head and Jon’s chest hoping this wasn’t all too good to be true. It had went amazingly well -beyond anything she could have imagined.

She could feel Jon’s steady heart beating underneath her cheek and she felt her own heart keeping in time with his. Her finger traced around the healed wounds from when he was betrayed and it reminded her how fragile they both were.

He had said before that he saw her as less of a sister but couldn’t guarantee it would work. ..but it did. They fit together like two people made to do this act. Half of her hoped she was already pregnant and the other half of her didn’t want this to end. Somehow, she just knew, that Jon wouldn’t touch her once she was with a babe; that somehow this would be done.

“You seem awfully deep in thought, ” Jon observed as he played with a lock of her mostly dry hair.

“I guess I am, ” Sansa smiled to herself.

“Dare I ask what ? Or are a woman’s thoughts after she’s coupled not a man’s business? ”

“I was thinking about how you made me feel,” Sansa explained.

Jon snuggled her naked form to his and she could feel the smile on his lips. “And how did I make you feel? ” He asked, an air of smugness in his voice. 

“Was that the little death I’ve heard women speak of? ” Sansa asked. 

“It seemed as though it was, but only you could say for sure. ” 

“It didn’t feel like I expected, ” Sansa explained. “I expected to feel full and pleased. ” 

“And you felt?” Jon inquired raising his head slightly so he could see her better. 

“Overwhelmed and. ..on fire, ” Sansa chucked. 

“That’s how it feels for me, so I imagine that’s right, ” Jon chuckled with her. “Well. ..good then, ” Sansa decided as she kissed his chest and re-rested her head on it. “You were my first. ” 

She felt Jon take in a deep breath and his hand pat her head lovingly. 

“I’m glad for that, ” he said honestly. 

“So do we just wait until you can perform again? ” Sansa asked, not looking up at him. 

“There is a delay between acts, ” Jon said with a snicker. “We could eat. ” 

“Should I…do you want me to tell cook to prepare luncheon? ” Sansa asked as she sat up right. 

“I’d like you to get Fanny to bring us some food, ” Jon said as he sat up against their headboard.

“I can just dress and get it….” Sansa’s rising was stopped well placed legs that snapped down over her torso and dragged her up to his body. 

“Jon whatever are you,…?” Sansa laughed. 

“No dressing, ” He said as he wrapped his legs around her and then clasped his arms around her as well. 

Sansa laughed heartily and feel back against his chest. 

“For a man questioning whether he could compete the act, you have changed your tune, ” she laughed as she looked up at his face. It was not what she expected to see. 

It was then that she felt his legs lose their grip on her and relax. She twisted in his lap and saw his face go ash grey.

“Jon, I’m sorry, I…” Sansa apologized. 

She shouldn’t have reminded him of his reluctance and thereby the reason why. She watched him swallow hard and sit up a little straighter, pulling back and away from her. 

Sansa turned her body so she was sitting cross-legged facing him. 

“We’ve done nothing wrong, “Sansa reminded him. 

"Yes, you’ve said, ” He said as he passed her a fur to cover herself with.

“Jon. …” she pleaded. 

“It’s fine Sansa, and we’ve managed, ” he said as he got up of the bed.

“Where are you going? ” Sansa asked, worried she’d messed it all up.

“ Just to relieve myself, ” he said, attempting a smile in her direction. “Call Fanny for the food? ”

Sansa nodded in response and watched him close the door behind him. It had gone from so good to so bad in an instant.


	15. 15

Sansa had pulled on her nightgown and was sitting opposite Jon on their bed quietly eating the cheese, meat and bread platter that had been sent to their room.

The entire mood in the room had cooled and Sansa was madly thinking of a way to rescue this. Jon was thinking too much; she could see it in his eyes and his mannerisms.

“Am I your wife? ” Sansa asked him suddenly.

Jon looked at her annoyed.

“Am I old enough to decide to marry? ” Sansa continued despite his dark looks. 

He continued to stare at her and say nothing.

“Was I forced into this marriage? Weren’t there others I could have chosen? ”

Jon said nothing but groaned softly.

“Jon? ”

“We both know the answers to all those questions, ” he muttered before he ripped off a hunk of bread and started to salt it.

“My point is obvious? ” Sansa asked with raised eyebrows.

“Sansa. ..” he groaned as he started to rub his forehead to fend off a headache.

“You do realize you are being ridiculous, right? ” She said a little more harshly than intended.

He looked at her annoyed.

“And that no amount of brooding on your behalf is going to make this situation better? ”

He huffed but said nothing.

“In fact, you are making this situation impossible, ” Sansa continued. “We hardly played together or spoke as children once we got older. You rarely ate with the family. ..the relationship between us was no more than acquaintances. And you are biologically my cousin, and more cousins marry each other than non-cousins”

“Are you quite done? ” Jon asked.

“ I am,” Sansa huffed, quite out of breath.

“You are right, Sansa, ” Jon said kindly as he watched at her face register his words.

She looked at him confused but waited for his explanation.

“The logic is sound, but the thoughts that run through my head are what I’m fighting. ” Jon explained. “I agreed to do this, and I will follow through on my promise to you, but you need to have patience with me as I. ..handle this. ”

Sansa nodded solemnly.

“And I’m truly sorry for it, ” Jon said as he took her hand in hers. “But you have your demons and I have my own.”

“So just like I asked you to not hold me down. ..”

“I ask that you avoid speaking about our childhood or my. ..discomfort with all of this.” Jon explained.

“Jon I don’t want to feel as if I’m forcing you to do this out of obligation, ” Sansa pleaded. “I’m no better than Ramsey if that is the case.”

“You aren’t him and I’m not being forced. Like you, I entered this marriage voluntarily and with other choices. I love you and I want to give you a babe. I also know you are right about securing the throne and I need to move past this. It’s just not going to happen immediately. So I need you to help me. ”

“Okay, ” Sansa said as she squeezed his hand.

Jon leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.


	16. 16

Sansa woke in a very familiar state. Jon’s entire body was pressed up against her back and his hand was cupping her breast. It didn’t happen every morning, but more mornings than not. And his reaction varied each time it happened.

Sometimes he woke and pulled his hand away quickly. She could almost hear him silently chastising himself as he lay on his back next to her. Other days he took a long sniff of her hair and slowly retreated his hand. And other days he lay for a long time cupping and massaging her breast as he kissed her neck. Sansa loved those mornings.

Today she would not find out what morning it would be. She had started her cycle at some point in the night and needed to clean herself up before he woke.

Sansa carefully slipped from their bed and his cupping hand and padded to their dressing room where Fanny always put out warm water for washing in the morning.

She plunged a linen into the scalding hot water and hissed. Fanny must have just brought it in because usually when Sansa got to it, the water was tepid.

Sansa pulled off her night gown and started to wash herself as goose flesh started to form on her skin. She shouldn’t be surprised her cycle had started. They’d only had sexual congress the one time; a full moon ago. She was stupid to think it had taken.

Since then, things had gone back to much the same as they had before. The only changes were they slept more intimately, he kissed her more often, and he’d started to call her ‘love’.

Sansa knew he was trying, but part of her couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever be okay with this. Sure he touched her often enough; a hand at her waist, on her back, touching her cheek. He kissed her, sometimes quite passionately even. And he watched her often. Sometimes to the point where it was uncomfortable. But not once had he initiated sexual intercourse and Sansa was starting to believe it would never happen again.

They ruled well together and had convinced several houses to support Jon and thereby the Dragon Queen through visits, dinners, and letters exchanged.

This coming week they were supposed to pay a visit to Highview House, a small but influential family that had invited them to stay for a few days and discuss this Dragon Queen. It was a two day ride in and not something Sansa was looking forward to especially now that her cycle had started. She pulled on her small clothes and the necessary extras to accommodate her bleeding, and wrapped a robe around her body before she walked back to their bedroom. 

When she entered she saw Jon sitting up in their bed scrubbing his face and the sleep from his eyes. He was bare-chested as usual and his hair was in every direction. 

“How are you feeling? ” He asked as soon as he saw her. 

"I'm fine, why? " Sansa asked, curious. 

"Good, " Jon said softly. 

Sansa eyed him strangely and walked toward their bed. 

"Why? " She asked again. 

Jon simply pulled back the furs to show a patch of blood on the linen where she had been sleeping.

"I imagine you're upset, " he said as he dropped the furs back over he mess and looked at her thoughtfully. 

Sansa sat gingerly on the furs and took a deep breath. 

"I can't say I'm pleased, " she said honestly. 

He reached over and grasped her hand in his and held it tightly. 

"I was wrong, " he said softly as he gazed into her eyes. 

She looked at him surprised. 

"Wrong? " She inquired.

"Sam said multiple times was best, and I ruined that on the day, " Jon admitted as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. 

"It was good the one time, " Sansa smiled shyly up at him. 

"It was, " he smirked at her. Sansa waited patiently for him to continue; she sensed he had more to say.

"I promise not to ruin it this month, " he said softly. "That is, if you're still willing to try.”

“Jon...” Sansa started as she squeezed his hand on return.

“I...I want you to be completely honest,” he stuttered. “Promise me that.”

She paused and looked at him seriously.

“I have wanted to continue since we stopped,” she said honestly. “I wasn’t the one who...halted our bedding.”

“I know,” he said as he dropped his eyes slightly and looked at their twined hands.

“And, if I’m to be honest, this last month with you has been...a challenge,” Sansa said. “You want us to go back to...before...but it’s not before and and it will never be that again.”

“I know,” he sighed.

“I’m your wife or I’m not,” Sansa said assuredly. “I can’t be your wife one day a month and not the rest of the time; it’s much too confusing Jon, and it makes me feel....”

His eyes met hers and he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.

“Don’t say it,” he begged.

Sansa nodded in agreement. They both knew ‘brood mare’ were the next words out of her mouth and neither wanted that hanging in the air between them.

“Are you my wife?” He asked softly with a smile as he continued to kiss each of her knuckles.

“Always,” she smiled back at him.


	17. 17

Sansa felt horrible. Ice pellets bounced off her shoulders and the cap she wore over her head. Highview was ahead of them and none too soon. Two days journey had turned into three and their traveling party was in a bad mood. This trip had meant one issue after another.

For Sansa the issues started with her cycle, included having to share a tent with Davos, Max, and Sam, and concluded with this slow icy journey up a slope to their final destination.

Her cycle this month was showing no signs of tapering as yet and the cramps had been relentless. Being on a horse in these conditions was not ideal but she was needed for this visit.

And the tent, she sighed as she thought of the experience, that was truly a lesson in male bodily functions and sleep habits. Their journey was only supposed to be one night spent in a tent, so, the boys had taken down the large King’s tent and rode back to Winterfell to await instructions as to when they were needed again. 

But that second day, the ice pellets had started to fall, wind had whipped in, and a storm had come upon them. A second night was necessary on the road, but only two tents remained; one carried by Max and one carried by Tormond. Both were small and meant for only a few men, but Sansa and Jon now needed to be accommodated. 

So she and Jon shared a tent with Max, Sam and Davos despite the protests of many, Jon insisted as the storm was too wild for any man to sleep outside. Conditions were tight and she found herself sleeping on the edge of the tent with Jon pressed up against her and Sam sleeping at her feet. 

It was not a good nights rest as someone constantly farted throughout the night making the tent seem more like a gas chamber. Sam had whole conversations in his sleep. Max kept kicking Jon’s legs and, when Jon woke him to alert him of this, he thought he’d be executed but assaulting the King. Also, Davos got up to vacate his bladder about six times during the night making noise as he came and went and letting freezing air into the text with each exit and entry.. Sansa had to admit that, by morning, Jon was, by far, the best man sleeping in the tent.

And now they climbed an icy path towards Highview as a storm raged around them and ice stuck to her furs.

“Sansa, do you wish to stop?” Jon called to her through to wind.

She shook her head in the negative and continued forward. She wanted to be inside the walls of Highview as soon as possible.

It was another few hours before that wish was a reality and Sansa wanted nothing more than a bath and a bed when they finally came through the gates at nightfall.

Immediately they were greeted by Quinton Kronos and his family. There were gasps of relief they had arrived safely amidst orders shouted to servants to take their things, ready baths and prepare food.

Luckily, the Kronos family did not insist on any sort of formal dinner that night and asked if they would just like food brought to their rooms so they could rest. Jon quickly accepted the offer and quite soon they found themselves stripping off their furs and resting in their room.

“It’s ready for you my Lady,” the maid said with a curtsy before she exited their room.

“What?” Jon asked from his position next to their bed removing his outer layers. He’d dismissed Max to attend to himself tonight.

“My bath,” Sansa smiled at him as she palmed an apple and walked toward the tub in the far corner of the room.

“Do you want me to leave?” Jon asked, as he noted the lack of privacy she was afforded in the small castle.

“I’ll be fine,” Sansa said as she turned away from him and quickly and efficiently dealt with her bloody cloths. She heard the bed creak behind her and knew Jon was settling in to eat a meal that would put anyone to shame.

“I’m sorry about the tent,” he said as she removed her small clothes and gingerly stepped into the water.

“You weren’t to know,” Sansa said as she carefully lowered herself into the luxuriously warm water. “The King’s tent is much to large to carry up these hills.”

Jon said nothing in return and she settled back into the tub, closed her eyes and ate her apple.

She heard him munching and rustling on the other side of the room and paid no heed until she heard him right next to her.

“Sansa?” Jon asked softly.

She opened her eyes and saw a very naked husband standing beside her tub.

Sansa looked at him perplexed and sat up a little. Jon took that as consent and stepped into the tub beside her hip and started to manouver himself behind her.

“I’m still on my cycle,” she said quickly before he sat down.

“I’ve seen worse things than a woman’s blood,” Jon said as he lowered himself into the water.

Sansa waited for him to settle before she leaned back and settled herself between his legs and against his chest.

“Gods this is nice,” Jon sighed behind her as she felt his entire body relax. 

Sansa liked this surprise and was about to take a bite of her apple when he pulled her hand back and took a bite himself.

“That’s my only sustenence,” she whined as he took another bite.

“Is it?” He smirked as he nodded his head toward the side of their tub. There, sitting on a tray, was a heap of food just waiting to be eaten.

“I’ve never dined in a bath before,” she said with a smile as she reached for a piece of bread.

“Neither have I,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But I wanted three things and this seemed the easiest way to accomplish all of them.”

“Three?” Sansa inquired as she twisted to look at his face.

“To be clean, food and you,” Jon said unabashedly. 

Sansa turned to kiss him and dropped the apple in the tub.

“No!” She cried as she watched it bob just below the surface and Jon’s hand quickly grab it.

“You can’t eat that now,” Sansa said as she watched him eyeing it. 

“I guess not,” he sighed as he tossed it onto the floor. “With my smelly feet in this water, who knows what it would taste like.”

Sansa laughed at his joke and turned to kiss the side of his face.

“No more dropping food, love,” Jon chastised. “We only have so much supply.”

She then felt his hand snake around her middle and rest on her peach.

“You’ll need to feed me because I have work to do,” Jon whispered into her ear and Sansa almost dropped the bread into the tub at the revelation as one finger made its way inside her.


	18. 18

Sansa woke in the middle of the night disoriented and damp. She pushed herself up on an elbow and looked around. Jon was snoring beside her, a linen was wrapped around her, furs were piled on top of her, and her damp long hair was sticking to her skin.

Then it all came flooding back to her. She was at Highview House. ..they had journeyed there through the storm. …Jon and she had bathed together. ..she had fed him while he. ..

“Oh,” Sansa gasped as she remembered what exactly his lovely fingers had done to her.

She recalled after that experience they stood from the water and she felt like a newborn foal unable to get her legs below her. He had wrapped her in a linen and carried her to their bed where he’d covered her for sleep.

He’d received no pleasure for her last night and she wasn’t even sure it was possible while she bled. She knew it wouldn’t give her a babe but his fingers had ventured ….so there was interest. She knew one thing Ramsay had taught her to do to a man that didn’t involve her peach and seemed to give him great pleasure, but she wasn’t sure if Jon would like that. Ramsay always did, but he was a sadist and pervert. Perhaps that wasn’t what ladies did? She’d have to ask Sam before she attempted anything and scared Jon off, or worse, made him think she was a pervert herself.

Sansa reached between her legs and felt the warmth of blood on her thighs and the linens below her. He was a man, of course he wouldn’t know she needed something to collect the blood so it wouldn’t go everywhere. She rose from their bed and walked over to the cooled bath water and cleaned herself before putting on small clothes and the necessary padding to catch her flow.

She then walked back to the bed where her warm husband lay and snuggled up to his frame. He groaned softly and caught her hand in his, pulling it up his chest and over his heart. Sansa couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her mouth. She was so happy things had been resolved between them and she wanted things to go smoothly from now on.


	19. 19

Quinton Kronos was a friendly man with a sweet family and Sansa quite liked visiting with them. As the days passed, she saw that Jon and she and the Counsel members had swayed House Kronos to their side; the side of the Dragon Queen. 

But, as the days passed, she also noticed how the trip was taking longer than expected. The snow storm that came with them to the castle died down two days later but on the day they were scheduled to leave, word came to the castle that another was headed their way.

Her husband decided they should stay and Quinton Kronos concurred. So they were now housed safely in Highview dining with the Kronos family every night, she being entertained by the ladies of the house each day, and Jon meeting and sword fighting with the men. If they had not sought comfort in each other’s bodies each night, Sansa would never have a moment alone with Jon. 

Their nights together were wonderful. Sansa felt like it was a luxury to lay beneath him each night; to have him inside her. Not once did Jon hesitate or look regretful. Not once was it anything but a beautiful act of love between them. And for that, Highview Castle would always be the place where things truly began for them. 

Sansa sat with the women watching Jon fight Ithaca Kronos. Their dull practice swords meeting time and time again and Sansa watched him ask for a break so he could remove his tunic from under his chest plate. 

“He really is a dragon, ” Lyfn Kronos said to Sansa in a whisper. “In this cold he still strips down”. 

Sansa smiled politely at the young Kronos girl who quite obviously had love eyes for Jon.

Sansa saw Sam join them and knew the opportunity was ripe. 

“Please excuse me ladies, ” Sansa said as he rose from her chair. 

“Don’t you want to see who wins? ” Lyfn asked her anxiously. 

Sansa smiled at the girl. “Jon always wins. ” 

She nodded towards Sam and he joined her in a wall around the castle. 

“The storm has lifted and we’re to leave tomorrow, ” Sansa said as they walked. 

“I heard, ” Sam nodded. “Not. ..not the best timing my Queen.” 

“No, no its not, ” Sansa sighed. “We’ll be riding all day with not much opportunity to. ..” 

“Maybe you could get them to delay a day? ” 

“We’ve been here long enough, imposed on them enough. ” 

They walked for a long time in silence. 

“So no babe this month, ” Sansa said with a resigned sigh. 

“Let me think about this a bit more, ” Sam said as he patted her shoulder. “Try and have a few acts between tonight and tomorrow when we leave, and I’ll try and find opportunities as we journey. ” 

“We sound like partners in crime, ” Sansa chuckled. 

“Partners in…something, ” Sam chuckled with her. 

They rounded a corner and were now standing in front of the fight taking place. 

“Jon’s toying with him, ” Sam noted as Jon dodged and ducked with ease and asked Ithaca if that was all he had. 

“There’s your beautiful sister! ” Ithaca teased and Jon froze. 

Sansa saw as Ithaca raised his sword to cut down Jon. She screamed Jon’s name and like a candle being lit, Jon suddenly sparkled to life again and fought Ithaca until he was on his back and Jon had him. 

“Thank gods,” Sansa sighed as she walked toward her heaving husband out of breath. 

“They are dull blades,” Sam reminded her. 

“Jon, ” Sansa sighed as she touched his back. 

He reacted as if in battle and turned with sword drawn on her. Sansa gasped, and when he realized what he’d done, Jon dropped the sword to the ground and pulled her into his arms. 

“I’m so sorry, ” he said into her hair as he clutched her to him. 

Sansa allowed herself to be enveloped and knew this was about more than the fight. It was about the words spoken, and how they’d been together, and what tomorrow was. She needed Jon to stay with her, to not give into the all the great fears and thoughts he had fought so desperately to bury.


	20. 20

They had been departed Highview only a few hours when Jon told the party to go ahead and set up the tents for the night, that Sansa needed a more leisurely pace. The men traveling with them agreed easily and started to gallop at a pace that actually would have made her uncomfortable. Jon rode up along side her and gestured to a frozen creek in a small valley where they could water the horses.

They had departed Highview well but with an air of unease. Quinton Kronos had pledged his family to Jon and thereby the Dragon Queen and had agreed to speak with others about this alliance. His influence would keep Jon from traveling to the far reaches of the North regularly to secure support.

Ithaca had apologized awkwardly several times for his mis-step in calling Sansa the King’s sister-he had grown up with them as siblings so it was an honest mistake. Jon and Sansa knew it hadn’t been, he was trying to throw Jon off his battle, but in the spirit of a new alliance, they both chose to believe what the man said.

If Sansa thought Ithaca’s pronouncement would cool things between them, she was entirely wrong. Since the fight, and the horrible sister comment, Jon had spent more time bedding her than before. If Sansa was to be crass, she would have said he was trying to fuck what part may still be his sister, out of her. That, in continually bedding her, he would only see her as his wife.

After the fight with Kronos he’d walked with her to their rooms and started to take her clothes off as soon as he’d shut the door. He was covered in sweat and so was she by the time the act was completed.

After dinner that night, when he was supposed to be drinking with the men, Jon slipped out and found her just as she was walking to their rooms to replace an earring she had somehow failed to put on before dinner. Lyfn had pointed out she was missing one and Sansa had taken the first opportunity after the meal was complete to rectify the problem. Jon pulled her into a darkened deep alcove and they made love silently as they heard people talking in the rooms and halls just next to where they were. Sansa was so surprised by the experience she returned to the ladies having not even sought the missing earring.

And Sansa was currently tired as they made their way to the creek because Jon had kept her awake half the night taking her three more times. And then once just before they joined everyone for a quick breakfast before departing. Sansa did need the slower pace today, because she was sore from all the riding that had already occurred.

“Sam spoke with you? ” Sansa asked as he helped her down from her horse.

“He did, ” Jon said as he led her horse to the creek bed and both horse and man tapped at the ice to reveal water below.

“And that’s why you sent the others ahead? ”

“That and. ..I sense you are uncomfortable, ” Jon said as some red rose up in his cheeks. “We have already bedded quite a bit today, so if you wanted to stop. ..”

Sansa watched his shifting feet and knew he’d bed her every chance he got for the rest of the day, but was putting a halt on his activities for her sake.

“I do think riding for two days does not agree with bedding, ” Sansa noted as she walked toward him. “But tonight we’ll have our own tent. …” Jon smiled at her comment and she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest, leaning her head on his back. “We will have a babe Jon,” She sighed into him as they stood in silence. He reached up and placed one calloused hand over hers and relaxed. “I know, ” he said softly.


	21. 21

“Is everything secure?” Sansa asked as Jon walked into their tent.

“It is,” Jon said as he wiped the show from his shoulders. “And you, my lady? Are you warm enough?” 

Sansa sat up in their bed and allowed the furs to drop around her revealing her breasts, naked to the world.

“I could be warmer,” she smiled at him. She was aiming for seductive but when she caught the look of utter surprise on his face she burst out laughing.”You should see the look on your face right now.”

“If you were looking at what I’m looking at you’d understand my look,” he said before he turned to make sure the flap to their tent was completely closed.

“I was trying to be seductive but I’m not sure that it worked,” Sansa said honestly, chastising herself.

“If seductive means I get in that bed with you as quickly as I can,” Jon said as he pulled his tunic and furs over his head and licked off his boots,”Then seduction has been achieved, my lady. If you...”

It was then that he tripped over his own pant leg and tumbled onto the ground in a very un-King like fashion.

“Jon!” Sansa yelled as she hopped out of the bed naked and ran to him.

Her scream must have been alarming because Max, who was guarding them, immediately ran into their tent and into a scene none of them wanted; the Queen naked and helping Jon get up off the ground with his braies about his ankles and all his naked bits in the air as well.

“Your Highnesses,” Max exclaimed as Sansa screamed upon hearing him and Jon stood to block her from view. 

Max was trying to make a hasty exit when Tormond, Sam, and Davos ran into the tent as well and Sansa screamed anew as Jon stood stark naked before her attempting to block the view and reach for a fur to cover her that was just out of reach.

“Everyone out!” Jon commanded.

All four men bowed their head and looked away with reddened faces and quickly started to back out of the tent.

As soon as Jon was sure they weren’t looking and almost gone, he grabbed a fur and wrapped it around Sansa. 

“Oh gods,” Sansa said as she started to pace back and forth wearing nothing more than a fur that barely covered her. “Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods.”

Jon reached for his braies and pulled them back on.

“Sansa, it’s not that bad,” Jon tried to comfort her.

“They walked in on us! All of them!” Sansa screamed.

“We didn’t see anything!” Sam called from outside the tent. 

“Go to bed Sam!” Sansa screamed at him.

“Sansa, it’s not like we were...”

“I was naked, Jon!” Sansa yelled at him. “No one is to come into this tent again without asking!”

“Okay, I’ll tell them...”

“Now! Tell them now, Jon!” She yelled.

Jon reached for his tunic and pulled it over his head before he stepped out of the tent. 

The four men were nowhere to be found. He stomped towards Davos’ tent and found them all huddled there.

“Your highness...” Davos started.

Jon raised his hand to stop all conversation.

“My wife, the Queen, requests that anyone entering our tent asks permission before stepping foot inside,” Jon said with a slight smirk on his face. “So that unfortunate incidents like this one, don’t happen again.”

Tormond started to chuckle and Sam elbowed him in the gut.

“Of course, my Lord,” Davos said formally, although he was smirking as well.

“Thank you,” Jon said before he exited the tent and made the short cold walk back to his tent. 

It was good he’d cooled off because when he got back to their tent, Sansa was laying with her back to him pretending to sleep.


	22. 22

The ride back to Winterfell was a very quiet one. Sansa was embarrassed to be caught in a compromising position and the men who walked in were embarrassed they made her uncomfortable. And, Jon reminding her that on their wedding night more people saw her naked, was apparently not a comfort. 

When they finally returned, everyone seemed to relax as they could finally get away from each other. After a couple of days, Sansa seemed to get over her embarrassment and Max stopped stammering and blushing whenever he was in her presence.

Weeks passed, and Jon and Sansa worked together as a team during the day running Winterfell and working towards securing the North. At night they bedded more often then not, and enjoyed the comfort their bodies provided, but as another moon and another moon and another passed Sansa bled.

“We’ve been doing as we are told, ” Sansa said as she looked over the charts with Sam. “Multiple beddings on the correct day.”

“And you have also coupled once a day before and after the best date,” Sam said as his brow wrinkled.

“We have, ” Sansa nodded.

“I’m going to have to think on this a little more, ” Sam scrubbed at his beard.

It was then that Gilly walked in with tea for them.

“Thanks Gilly, ” Sansa smiled at her. Sam leaned over and absently kissed Gilly’s forehead.

“I can’t have the dates wrong, ” Sam said under his breath. “According to Maester Smithy….”

“Gilly, ” Sansa called to Sam’s three time pregnant wife. “ Can I ask you a very personal question? ”

Sam started to shift uncomfortably next to Sansa.

“Of course, my Queen,” Gilly nodded.

“You’ve had 3 babes in you. ..”

“Five, ” Gilly corrected her. “ I lost 2.”

“Oh gods Gilly, ” Sansa said as she kindly cupped her shoulder. “I’m so sorry. ”

Sansa quieted for a moment unsure she should continue.

“Go ahead, your Ladyship, ” Gilly offered.

“Sam has produced these charts for me telling me when the best time is to get a babe, ” Sansa explained. “And while I don’t doubt Sam is right, I haven’t got a babe yet. But you have had them many times and I was wondering if. ..if you had any advice? ”

Gilly leaned over the charts and looked at Sam and smiled softly.

“I’m not sure what the charts mean, ” Gilly confessed. “ But whenever we’ve wanted a babe, we start…”

Sansa nodded for her to continue.

“…doing it as soon as my bleeding is done and bed as often as we can,” Gilly explained. “But I think it’s three things that make it work. ..”

“Gilly, ” Sam sighed.

“Five babes Sam!” Gilly chastised.

“Fine, ” said Sam. “But there are no facts to substantiate what Gilly. ..”

“Go on, then,” Sansa encouraged.

“He makes me come just before he spills inside me, ” Gilly explained.

Sansa watched Sam rub his head and go beet red.

“Right before? ” Sansa confirmed.

“At the same time even, ” Gilly explained.

Sansa nodded her head. Jon made her feel that way often, but not each time, and usually it was quite a while before he spilled in her afterwards.

“I raise my legs up and curl them into my chest for a long while afterwards-it gets the seed to stick, ” Gilly explained.

“Now, that does have its merits, ” Sam explained. “Have you done that as I suggested? ”

Sansa nodded her head in the negative. It seemed so undignified.

“And lastly. …I get him to fuck me from behind, ” Gilly said, forgetting her language.

“Gilly, the Queen,” Sam chastised.

“It’s fine, ” Sansa chuckled. “We are talking about just that, even if we aren’t using the word. ”

The thought of Jon taking her from behind caused Sansa’s insides to coil. That was how Ramsay had always taken her.

“Why from behind? ” Sansa asked, her mouth dry.

“I think it’s the angle, ” Gilly said as she demonstrated with her hands. “It’s great for getting me off, but I think it’s also good access to the womb.”

“I have read several Maesters works that advise that. ..position…to Lords with young unwilling wives to get them with babe as quickly as possible. ” Sam added absently.

Sansa felt her stomach lurch and she ran to the corner of the room and emptied her stomach contents onto the floor.

Gasps and shouts for assistance were called as Gilly held back Sansa’s hair and Sam rubbed her back.

“Maybe you’re with babe afterall, ” Gilly smiled kindly at her.

Sansa shook her head in the negative and stated to cry. She’d thought she’d put Ramsey behind her, but it was clear the bastard could still hurt her all this time later.


	23. 23

“I don’t think I can do it,” Sansa said honestly as she sat cross legged on their bed and watched him take off his furs.

“Sansa, I just walked in the door...” Jon said confused. “What can’t you do?”

“I can’t be taken from behind,” Sansa said with conviction.

“And why would I do that?” Jon asked, still confused by the conversation.

Sansa looked at him perplexed. “Hasn’t Sam spoken with you?”

“No, why would he speak with me about...that?” Jon asked, as he started to kick off his boots.

“He and I discussed...” Sansa’s voice trailed off.

“You and Sam were looking at your pictures again?” Jon asked with a smirk.

“No, we were not,” Sansa said, suddenly embarrassed. 

“Sansa what is this about?” Jon asked, as he sat on the bed next to her.

Sansa looked at her hands and swallowed hard.

“Sansa, just tell me,” Jon sighed. He placed a hand on her knee and implored her to look at his face.

“Gilly said that to get a babe, three things need to be present,” Sansa explained as she met his eyes. “I need to pull my legs up for sometime afterwards to get the seed to stay. I need to...well, you need to...make me feel that way as you spill or just before. And she advised you take me from behind because the angle works well for making babes.”

“And Gilly is our new Maester?” Jon chuckled.

“She’s had five babes inside her,” Sansa explained.

“Sansa you can’t go on what Gilly...”

“Five babes, Jon!” Sansa cried.

Jon reached over and wiped her tears from her cheeks. “Go on, tell me the rest.”

“That’s the only way Ramsay took me,” Sansa said quietly. “I just couldn’t bear it Jon...I just couldn’t.”

“What if...what if we did the other things and left out that one?” Jon asked quietly as he cupped her cheek.

Sansa’s eyes suddenly lit up; she hadn’t thought of that possibility.

Jon smiled softly at her.

“I imagine we could,” Sansa said with a returned smile. 

“Sansa, about those pictures...” Jon started.

“Jon, we don’t have to...”

“Some of those...ways...would make you feel really good,” he said kindly.

“Jon, I don’t think you need to...”

“But I’d like to,” Jon said as he rubbed his thumb over her lips.

Sansa looked at him and dared to ask the question she’d wanted to ask for a while. 

“How do you know these things?” Sansa asked, cautiously. “Who have you practiced these...things with?”

Jon swallowed hard and dropped his fingers from her lips. He stood up from their bed and walked toward the far wall.

“Jon?” Sansa asked. “I’m sorry, it’s not my bus...”

“But it is,” Jon said softly, still not turning to face her. “You are my wife and as I am entitled to know who you have been with, you are entitled to know that about me.”

“You don’t have to...” Sansa continued.

“I’ve only been with one woman, besides yourself,” Jon started.

“The wildling?” Sansa asked. 

Jon turned and looked at her surprised.

“I’ve heard talk,” Sansa explained.

He nodded in understanding.

“I broke my Night’s Watch vows to be with her,” Jon said softly. “She was a wildling so she was...adventureous.”

Sansa swallowed hard. She didn’t dare ask what he truly meant when he said that.

“Did you love her?” Sansa asked.

“Very much,” Jon conceded. “And she died in my arms.”

“Oh,” Sansa gasped.

Sansa said nothing for a long time; just sat there absorbing the fact that Jon loved this wildling in a way he hadn’t ever loved her.

“So if she hadn’t died,” Sansa started. “You’d still be with her?”

Jon sighed and walked back towards Sansa.

“No, we’d parted ways a time before that,” Jon explained. 

“But you loved her,” Sansa clarified.

“Aye, I did,” he smiled candidly, lost in thought.

Sansa couldn’t help but be jealous of the dead woman. 

“What’d she look like?”

Jon looked at her and smiled shyly. “Red hair, fair skin, barked as she laughed.”

Sansa looked at his animated face and her heart ached. How would he describe her? 

Jon was pulled from his reverie and stood to strip down to his braies.

“She was it, for me, until you,” Jon said, as if wrapping up the conversation.

“She sounds like she was enough,” Sansa said absently.

“I’m sorry?” Jon asked.

“You still love her,” Sansa said as she met his eyes.

Jon looked at her surprised.

“Sansa, a part of me will always love her,” Jon said softly. “But all of me loves you.”

“Truly?” Sansa asked, surprised.

“How can you even ask?” Jon asked, surprised as he leaned toward her.

“You speak of this wildling...”

“Ygritte.”

“...Ygritte with such esteem, whereas I am merely your wife, your cousin, a security for the North.”

“How can you say that, Sansa?” Jon asked as he reached for her hand and held it in his.

Sansa met his eyes with tears in her own.

“I love you,” Jon said as he leaned forward even more and kissed her soundly. “Not because of any reason you listed. But because you are Sansa who has hair kissed by fire, bravery in spades, fair beautiful skin and my heart in her hands.”

Sansa wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. She liked his description of her the best.


	24. 24

Sansa felt like she’d died and gone to heaven. He was working her peach with his mouth as if he knew her insides as well as her outsides. She felt her joy rolling over her body as he worked some magical spot inside her.

“Oh gods,"Sansa screamed a she practically pulled the hair from his scalp.

Jon smiled against her wet lips and licked her entire length with the flat of his tongue.

"Jon, Jon. ..I’m. …”

He knew what she was communicating and quickly crawled up her body and plunged himself into her depths.

“Gods Jon! ” She screamed as she came and he emptied himself into her sensitive opening.

Jon kissed her soundly and she tasted herself on his mouth. She was wet and sweet and salty all at once. He smiled down at her and she felt her heart may burst. Her body felt like loose yarn and her insides a glowing fireball.

“Oh gods, ” Sansa huffed as she wiped at locks away from her brow.

Her legs started to fall from his back and he reached around and pulled one back up.

“Legs up for a bit, ” he reminded her with a grin.

“I don’t think you need to remain cradled within them, ” Sansa chuckled.

“Aye, but it’s a good position for a man to be in, ” he snickered.

“And why is that? ” Sansa asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Because I can do this. ..”

Jon leaned forward and gave her a long passionate kiss.

“And it can do this. ..” he said as he bent slightly and suckled her left nipple in his mouth.

Sansa felt her insides tighten with joy.

“And it can grab this, ” Jon said as his one hand heartily smacked and held her right butt cheek.

“And I can do. ..this, ” He said as he squeezed one of his hands between them and started to work her nub.

“I don’t think I can take any more of that, ” Sansa chuckled as she swatted his hand away.

“And finally, ” he said as he shifted his weight slightly. “I’m in the perfect position to be inside you as quickly as possible again.”

Sansa laughed at his assessment of the situation.

“So you’re prepared to do the requisite half hour with me like this? ” She asked with a smirk.

“That I am, ” he said as he settled comfortably against her shoulder. “Because by that time I’ll be ready for another go, and then we’ll be right back like this again. ”

Sansa laughed merrily at his words and she felt his belly shake against her as well.

“I love you, Jon, ” Sansa sighed as she kissed the top of his head.

He placed a small kiss on her shoulder blade and she could feel his smile against her skin.


	25. 25

Sansa walked into the dining hall for breakfast and immediately knew something was wrong. Jon had been gone for a few days trying to reason with the Frankum family and had arrived late last night. He was so exhausted he’d fallen into their bed and there he still slept.

Sansa sat down and immediately looked to Ser Davos for an explanation.

“Has the King spoken with you? ” Davos asked with an air of resignation.

“No, he was so exhausted he barely greeted me before he fell off to sleep, "Sansa said as worry built in her bones.

"It didn’t go well, ” Ser Davos sighed. “That bloody Geos is a…well, he’s something I’d never say in front of a lady. ”

“But his father. …”

“Ill and bedridden….the son holds all the power, at least for now, ” Davos explained.

“Deathly ill or. ..?”

“ Who’s to say? ” Jon was the only one who spoke with him and he did he didn’t look promising.

“And Pinehurst now refuses to back us? What happened to Lord Frankum's word he gave Jon months ago? ”

“Geos won't honor his father's word,"Ser Davos exhaled.

"Besides being a twit, what other reasons could he possibly have? ”

“He won’t follow a Southern Dragon Queen,” Davos explained.

“He doesn’t trust the South,” Edd added.

“But Jon is Northern and. ..”

"Not Northern enough, apparently, " Davos explained. 

"He was raised here, he was Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, he fought White Walkers, he defeated Ramsey Bolton, he took back Winterfell, he. .."

"Married and bedded his sister in a Southern way, " Tormond interrupted.

Sansa gasped as she turned to face him and Edd quickly hushed Tormond.

"But I'm not his. .." 

"Geos remembers how you were raised and that trumps all other claims. ...it seems. " Tormond explained.

"But Jon and I..." Sansa started. 

"Everyone else recognizes the lunacy of his accusations, my Lady, " Edd explained.

She took a moment to think before she spoke. 

“Is Pinehurst the only Northern family who thinks this?” Sansa asked as she swallowed hard.

“No,” Edd answered her plainly.

“But they are in the minority,” Davos quickly supplied. “Most recognize Jon’s authority, his dragon blood, his Stark upbringing, and his position as their King.”

“And the others, those who think he’s bedding his sister?” Sansa asked, concerned.

“They can go to hell,” Jon’s voice boomed behind them and all the men quickly rose to greet the King.

“Jon,” Sansa sighed. “We need to deal with this.”

Jon walked around the table, kissed her softly on the cheek and then took his chair next to her.

“They’ll come around,” Jon said, trying to end all uncomfortable conversation.

“We need to make them come around,” Sansa said as she placed a hand on his arm.

“The King doesn’t need to justify himself to any...” Ser Davos began.

“No, but he needs to win back his people,” Sansa implored. “Jon, you know the North will be true to you if you just...sway them to your side.”

“And how do you propose I do that?” Jon asked, still wiping the sleep from his eyes. He looked exhausted. “Marry another? Perhaps Kit Mernish? She’s of age and seemed to be fond of me. Or Batha Frankum? She’s got nice wide birthing hips.”

Sansa let go of his arm and turned back to her food. He was being unreasonable himself.

“I don’t think anyone is proposing that the King...” Davos began.

“Nothing short of tossing Sansa to the winds and taking another acceptable Northern girl as a wife will please them,” Jon said with some force. 

“Maybe you should,” Sansa said softly as she cut into her egg.

“Sansa, don’t...” Jon’s voice softened and he touched her arm.

“I can’t seem to give you an heir, I’m dividing the North with our marriage, and...” Sansa said with a little more emotion than she had hoped to have.

“And you are the only Queen for me,” Jon said softly as he touched her chin and forced her to look at him. 

“It’s been almost a year,” Sansa whispered as a tear fell from from her eye.

“That makes no difference to me,” he said quietly, aware, suddenly there were others in the room. “I love you, and only you.”

Sansa gave him a brief smile and he brushed at her wet cheek.

“They will come around,” he said to the group of people eating. “Let’s not speak of this further.”

Tormond cleared his throat and Davos asked for more to drink from the serving maid. 

Then Sansa felt Jon’s hand reach for hers on her lap and hold it tightly.

“Together,” he said softly as he met her eyes and then he let go and went back to eating.


	26. 26

Sansa sat soaking in a tub of hot water and cried. She’d dismissed Fanny so she wouldn’t see this weak outburst and waited until Jon was busy with his training exercises to cry privately.

It was only a few days before the one year anniversary of their marriage and her body continued to mock her. She’d started to bleed again yesterday. Today, the cramps across her stomach and lower back were almost unbearable.

Sansa let fall all the tears she had been holding in. She cried for her body that seemed to betray her every month, for her husband who overcame so much to sit on a fruitless thrown, and for resentment she knew he would feel toward her one day ; she was to be a millstone around his neck.

She cried until she had no tears left in her body and the water cooled. Her teeth were chattering as she rose from the tub and wrapped a linen around herself. She sat on a nearby stool and drank the nettle tea Sam had recommended for cramps. It had cooled as well, but she didn’t care.

There was to be a huge celebration at Winterfell on their anniversary. She had invited some of the Northern families that thought their marriage a good excuse not to support the Dragon Queen and Northern families who supported them from the start.

It was to be a very Northern celebration with wine, dancing, extravagant meals of wild game, a hunt, sword play, and Northern performers. If they wanted to see how Northern Sansa and Jon were, they would get an eyeful this week. The guests would start to arrive in two days time and, Sansa hoped, would leave a few days later supporting the King of the North.

She’d pulled Jon around to the idea just after she found out there were several houses using their marriage as an excuse to not support the Dragon Queen. Jon had relented when she logically told him winning them was a far better strategic plan than just waiting until they needed the King’s help and pulling them over then. The houses needed to feel they had decided to support the King not been forced to support the King.

Sansa sighed and rose from her chair. She wished the celebration could have been doubly so, with a babe in her belly, but it wasn’t too be. Sansa was sure, at this point, that it was entirely her fault. Ramsay had taken her every night the entirety of their marriage and no babe came of it. Jon had taken her for eight moons now and nothing had come of it. The common factor was her. Which is why she agreed for Sam to examine her and know for sure.

Jon had said ‘no’ but Sansa had lied to Sam and told him Jon had agreed later that evening. And now, as she heard the knock on her door, Sansa knew it was Sam.

“Come in, ” Sansa called to him as she sat on her bed.

“Hello my Queen, ” Sam said nervously as he entered the room with Fanny trailing behind him.

She watched him place a leather satchel down at the foot of the bed. The clinking noise of the metal inside ran a shiver down her spine.

“It’s best to do this while on your cycle so I can see how everything. …functions, ” Sam explained as he nodded for Sansa to lay down on her bed.

Sansa did as she was told and waited for further instruction. One other time in her life had she been examined like this; to ensure Joffrey would have an heir. At that time it was deemed she was fine, but so much abuse had happened since then. ..

Fanny sat down next to her head and looked down at Sansa with tears in her eyes for her Lady.

“I will have to use some. ..instruments, ” Sam cautioned. “But not straight away. ”

Sansa nodded silently and gripped the sheets tightly. Somehow she would get through this and not think of Ramsey and the instruments he’d used on her for fun.

“I’m going to start by feeling your womb, ” Sam explained as his hands parted her linen towel and started to press on her stomach.

Sansa felt him tapping various areas and poking at others with his chubby fingers. His hands slowly made their way lower and tapped on her public bone, her soft tissue by her peach, her sides, and finally he made her role onto her stomach so he could press on her lower back. Sansa had to admit, as a Maester ands Jon’s friend, Sam’s examination, so far, was better than the one she received at King’s Landing.

“I will have to look inside now, ” Sam said softly as he grasped her hand briefly. “You may want to hold Fanny’s hand.”

Sansa nodded slightly and reached for Fanny; her maid that was crying quiet tears beside her. Sansa wished Fanny would stop because it only made her insides coil with fear of what was about to happen.

Sam started to pull out various metal instruments that Sansa dare not look at. They clinked against each other and seemed to weigh down the corner of her bed.

“What in seven hells. ….?” Jon’s voice cried from the entrance to their room.

Sam dropped a metal instrument on the floor and Fanny squeeked in shock. Sansa just closed her eyes and silently cursed who ever told him this was going on.

“Wait outside Fanny,” Sansa said calmly as she closed her legs and pulled the linen over her body before sitting up.

“Sansa, we agreed. ..” Jon said perplexed as he walked toward her and Sam.

“No Jon, you agreed, ” Sansa said with an air of resignation.

“He hadn’t changed his mind? ” Sam asked.

“No Sam, I’m sorry I lied to you, ” Sansa said as she met his eyes. “But I needed to know. ”

“And you wanted to subject yourself to. …to….this? !” Jon barked.

“I didn’t want to, ” Sansa whined. “I didn’t want Sam to stick metal things inside me like Ramsey used to. I didn’t want to lay here naked while he did. And I didn’t want to find out that I can’t bare babes. But I have to know Jon. I just have to. ”

Sansa saw Jon’s mouth open then close like a fish. He ran his hand through his hair and paced a tight circle, thinking.

“Perhaps I should. ..” Sam started as he rose off his knees.

“No, Sansa wants this exam, and she’ll have it, ” Jon said as he nervously scratched at his jaw.

“Thank you, Jon, ” Sansa smiled nervously at him. “If you’ll send Fanny back in we can. ..”

“No, I’ll stay with you, ” Jon said as he kicked off his boots and pulled off his fighting armour.

“Jon, I don’t think. ..” Sansa started as her cheeks reddened.

“It’s highly unusual for the husband. ..” Sam began.

“If you are prepared to go through with this, ” Jon said as he crawled on the bed and started to situate himself behind her so she was cradled between his strong legs, “then so am I.”

He pulled Sansa back gently to his chest and kissed the side of her face.

Sansa smiled up at him and nodded for Sam to continue. Sansa watched as Sam cleaned his instruments with alcohol, a courtesy Ramsay had never given her, and prepare everything.

“Do you remember that afternoon in the glass garden when you told me about the beautiful flowers of the Vale?” Jon whispered into her ear.

“Yes,” Sansa smiled at the memory.

“I think I’ve found something similar near Bear Lake,” Jon said as he slowly ran his fingers up and down her arm. “They’re yellow. ”

“Are they purple at the stem base? ” Sansa asked as she felt Sam slip the metal inside her.

She gripped Jon’s leg and her breath hitched.

“Yes, I thought you and I could take a ride out there and gather some,” Jon said softly as he peppered the side of her face with kisses.

Sansa took deep breaths and tried to focus on Jon.

It was then that Sansa felt his strong hands start to gently massage her shoulders as he spoke love words in her ear. He told her how beautiful she was, how he loved it when he caught her watching him, how he loved to watch her dance and laugh. Sansa found herself mesmerized by his words and his gentle touch. She relaxed into his frame and, although she could still feel Sam’s examination, she didn’t feel anyone else in the room or her memory but she and Jon.

“I’m done, ” Sam said after some time. Sansa was in the middle of Jon’s story about the way her face lit up when she blushed when she was pulled from her trance.

She looked down at the body metal instruments and was suddenly back in a very harsh reality. She looked at Sam expectantly.

“There is no physical reason why you can’t have a babe, ” Sam said as he wiped his brow.

Sansa laughed with joy and reached back to hug Jon tightly against her.

“I knew you were fine, ” Jon said with a smile.

“ Have you been doing all the things I suggested? ” Sam asked as he wiped the blood of the instruments and Sansa closed her linen to cover herself.

“Mostly, ” Jon answered for them.

“Well, you should be doing them all, ” Sam said absently. “Sometimes a body needs to get used to the idea of a babe before it can make one. If you heed all my suggestions, I am sure we can have you with babe by next anniversary.”

Sansa and Jon nodded solemnly and Jon kissed the top of her shoulder.

“We’ll figure it out, ” he whispered softly as he wrapped a protective arm around her middle.


	27. 27

“And we absolutely needed these flowers. ..why exactly? ” Sansa asked as she followed Jon on her horse.

“You are the one who wanted this to be a very Northern celebration, “Jon noted as he slowed his horse to ride along side her. “Sam says these are an ancient flower of the North and something all the houses will recognize.”

“He also noted that a storm was coming in, ” Sansa said as she looked at the dark clouds rolling in from the west.

“Aye, that he did, ” Jon said with a mischievous lilt to his voice.

“I do have preparations to oversee, ” Sansa said as she eyed him carefully. “Everyone starts to arrive tomorrow. ”

“That they do, ” Jon said absently as they approached a valley looking out onto Bear Lake. “The flowers are on the west side. ” 

“So the storm doesn’t have to come to us,” Sansa sighed. “We’re kindly meeting it part way. ” 

Jon merely laughed at her statement and encouraged his horse forward.

As Sansa predicted, a winter storm started to blow in as they made their way around the lake. Jon siddled up next to her and cocked his head toward a nearby cave and thermal. It was one they had visited as children once. 

He helped her down off her horse and deftly tied their horses inside the cave and dug out some snow to make a trough for them to drink at. She watched him untie a couple of blankets from his pack, a wine skin, and some food provisions. 

“You predicted this! ” Sansa accused as she took off her hood and watched him light a torch. 

“I came prepared for an afternoon storm, my Lady, ” Jon grinned. 

“Are there really flowers? ” Sansa asked. 

“There are, ” Jon chuckled. “But they are out of season. In a few weeks time they will be back. ” 

“So you’ve brought me out here under false pretenses?” Sansa asked, dumbfounded. 

“Aye,” Jon nodded with a smirk.

“Why? ” Sansa asked, confused. 

“Because I wanted to visit the thermals with my wife, ” Jon admitted. 

“Jon, there’s so much to do! ” 

“And the maids and cooks will take care of it, ” he said as he walked toward her and placed his hands on her waist, smiling. 

“You are quite devious,” Sansa smiled up at him as she wrapped her hands around his neck. 

“When it means I get to be alone with you. ..yes, always,” Jon said softly. “Now get those clothes off so we can enjoy the thermal.” 

She felt the growl in his chest before she heard it as Jon learned forward and, holding her face with his hands, made his intentions clearly known with his lips.

Sansa smiled at him and allowed her furs to drop down behind her. Jon helped her remove the remainder of her clothes and walked her to the thermal pool. 

"Aren’t you joining me? ” Sansa asked as she stepped naked into the pool. 

“Like anything could keep me from that?, ” Jon asked as he stepped away and started to take off his own clothes.

“Oh, I do like this view,” Sansa said, grateful for the bit of light and the torch as she watched him undress before her. 

Jon stepped into the tub and smiled. The water was perfect. He pulled Sansa against him and kissed her passionately. They explored each other’s mouths while they ran their hands up and down the others wet sides. The warm water allowed her tired muscles to relax into Jon and Sansa felt like the steam around them was some sort of magic. Her thoughts were only of Jon and herself in that moment; not the party, the planning, the winning over of Northern families, all the details...just Jon and herself. 

He shifted positions and pulled her into his lap her back against his chest and started to kiss her neck, her back, work her nipples with his hands.

“Jon,” she cautioned as she felt his manhood against her buttocks. 

“Do you trust me?” Jon asked in a whisper. 

“I…I do, ” Sansa whispered back. He lifted her slightly and positioned her peach over his engorged cock then he let her slowly slide down onto him at her own rate. Sansa couldn’t help the gasp when he finally filled her.

He filled her peach in a way she didn’t know was possible to enjoy. 

“You’re in charge, ” he huffed behind her. “As much or as little, as slow or as fast, as gentle or as rough, even to stop. ..it’s all up to you, Sansa. ” 

She felt him encompass all of her and, instead of feeling upset or dirty or sick, she felt. ..Jon. Sansa slowly lifted herself and felt the slide of him. She did that for a long time without Jon so much as moving a muscle. She was in charge of everything that happened, or didn’t happen between them. Sansa knew Jon would do or not do whatever she asked and that helped her find some peace. 

Eventually, she felt only like a woman making slow perfect love to her husband. She wasn’t a wife treated like a whore, bent over and taken viciously at every turn practically suffocating in whatever surface he’d chose; she was a woman, taking this man and he was happy for it. She was breathing sweet air, rocking her own hips, making love to a man she actually loved, who loved her in return. It was...freeing for her body, mind, and soul. 

Sansa felt the water splash around them as she started to quicken the pace. Still, he didn’t once move until he softly put a hand on her waist, steadying her imperfect movements, and then it vanished like a ghost away from her. She loved him more than ever in that moment, for his belief in her, for his control of himself, for allowing it to be all within her control.

Sansa focused entirely on herself, in how it felt to do this to him. To take back this way of love making . She heard Jon suck in a deep breath and knew he was keeping himself as long as possible. 

Sansa dropped her head back onto his shoulder and sighed. 

"Touch them, ” Sansa begged. 

Within moments Jon’s hands were massaging her pert breasts and she was lost. Two more times rising and coming down, grinding around his cock were all it took before something happened that Sansa never thought could happen like this. She experienced pure joy with her husband inside her from behind. With his hands on her breasts. With his kisses on the back of her neck. With the words of love coming from his mouth. 

And when he spilled his seed in her moments later, it was not with the wish that she would not be with a child. It was the compete opposite. Everything about making love with Jon this way was the total opposite of what she had experienced before. It was perfect and beautiful.


	28. 28

“You surprise me regularly,” Sansa said as she laid with her head on Jon’s chest watching the snow slowly fall outside of their thermal cave.

“I do?” Jon asked as he rubbed her back and pulled one of their furs up to cover her better.

“You are fine not being the man,” Sansa said as she nuzzled his skin.

“I’m sorry?” He asked as he raised his head up slightly and looked at her perplexed. 

“You know what I mean,” she smiled against him.

“No, Sansa,” he clarified. “You will have to explain yourself.”

“You let me take control today,” Sansa said quietly. “You’ve washed my hair, you’ve...”

“Oh, aye, now I understand,” Jon said as he placed his head back down and relaxed.

“You understand?”

“I’m not a brute,” Jon said softly. “I care that you are alright.”

Sansa thought for a moment before she asked her next question.

“Did Sam advise you on how to...how to make it easier for me?”

Jon took a deep breath.

“No, I thought of that,” he said quietly. “You never had control...before. So a way to make it different for you was to give you that control back.”

Sansa said nothing for a long time.

“Did you like it? The control?” He asked, a little unsure.

“It was different,” Sansa said honestly. “I liked it for this, but I’m not sure I’d like it all the time.”

“I’m not sure I’m willing to give it up all the time,” he chuckled.

She smiled against his chest and drew circles around his hard nipples.

“You take control but in a...nice way,” Sansa said.

“Aye, and you like that?” Jon confirmed.

“I do,” Sansa said, kissing his chest. “I like it a lot.”

Jon pulled her a little tighter against him and noted the storm was coming to an end. 

“I think our afternoon escape has come to an end,” Jon said with a sigh.

“It has,” Sansa groaned.

Neither made a move to leave.

Jon kissed the top of her head and thought about his next words carefully.

“Whenever you wish to be in charge, Sansa, you just say,” Jon said as he played with a lock of her hair. “I don’t mind it at all, and I’d rather...not be the man, as you say, then scare you or hurt you.”

Sans turned her head and looked up at her husband and sighed.

“And that’s why I love you, Jon,” she said with a smile.


	29. 29

Sansa sat and watched Geos Frankum leering at Deder Finn’s ample bosom as she poured him another flaggon of ale. The young Frankum man was not discreet in the slightest and that irked her most. 

She hadn't spent any time with him since she was a child, and Jon had reported that the young man was a pompous arse. Jon was exactly right in his assessment. But many of the other Northern families seemed to agree that Geos was an ass, so that worked in their favor. He unnerved her personally. Sansa felt he was stripping her clothes off with his mind each time he looked at her. His younger brother and sister seemed nice enough, she hoped they didn't take after him.

Geos' mother Lady Frankum had already left for her chambers. She was a skittering sort of woman who Sansa had trouble making conversation with. One thing Sansa did notice about the woman was her fear of her son. That was something Sansa could work with tomorrow when she sewed with the women.

Ithaca Kronos was dancing with several fair maids and ignoring his father, Quinton’s, protests that he needs to be better behaved; that Highview’s honor is at stake. Ithaca's wife had already retired for the night. It was clear to Sansa that Lyfn, his sister was fond of Jon as she kept asking him to dance and, when he refused, would still teeter around him and attempt to engage him in conversation while he politicked with the other men. 

Lady Mormont had been a good and true companion to Sansa sharing her opinions candidly of the other families. She'd also told Sansa they were trying to marry her to Geos which Sansa felt incredibly disturbing. She sat dutifully in her seat talking to her advisors while watching the misbehavior as well. 

Lord Vorray was so into his cups Sansa wasn't sure he could see properly any more and his poor wife was being dragged around the dance floor with him again. She was smiling happily but looked incredibly concerned about their safety as he stumbled and bumped his way through the crowd. Sansa had noticed that they were incredibly in love. Despite the age difference of about ten name days, she looked at her husband with awe and he looked at her like she was the only woman in the room. They'd only been married a short while and already had two children with what looked like a third on the way. Sansa couldn't help but be jealous, Helena Vorray had been pregnant almost her entire marriage without issue. 

She wasn't sure why the Vorray house didn't sport them, they seemed amiable enough. Sansa and Jon had to get to the bottom of this issue as soon as possible. 

The various children from the houses were running about, getting into mischief and playing under tables. It was a raucous party and all in all the celebration was going well despite some youthful lack of decorum. 

"Dance with me, Lady Targaryen? " Geos asked as he leaned into her frame.

Sansa looked up surprised. She was so lost in thought she had missed his approach. 

"I prefer Stark," Sansa corrected him. 

"I heard you were a family of many names, " Geos leered. 

"Like all families we have lineages," Sansa noted coolly. " We've been Starks longer, so it's more familiar. " 

"But not your husband, " Geos added conversationally. "He was a bastard Snow." 

"Was, being the operative word, my Lord," Sansa said annoyed.

"As I said, a house of many names, " Geos sneered. "Now that dance? " 

"I'm afraid I haven't yet danced with my husband, so it would be. .." 

"I don't think he would mind, " Geos said as he took her hand forcefully and pulled slightly for her to rise.

"My Lord, " Sansa tried to pull from his grasp with no success. "I will dance with my husband first. " 

"He's to busy, and it's a shame he doesn't put his wife to better use, " Geos said pulling her against him so she could feel his hard member against her thigh. " Has your brother even fucked you yet? " 

Sansa gasped and suddenly Ser Davos' large hand closed over top of Geos' firm grip and released Sansa. 

"Thank you for getting the Queen, Lord Frankum," Ser Davos said politely as if nothing was amiss. "The King has asked for her to dance. " 

Geos merely glared at them both as Davos quickly escorted her away.

"Geos...." Sansa whispered to Ser Davos. 

"I heard and saw, my Queen," Davos whispers back. "We need to keep an eye on the lad. He's an untamed horse with a bite and too much power. " 

Sansa nodded her head. Davos was exactly right.


	30. 30

Sansa wasn’t sure if Jon would stay awake long enough to compete the act. He was ridiculously tired, it was 4am, and he’d had many glasses of ale. She was on top of him and he’d contributed little to their bedding tonight.

“Jon, we don’t need to. ..” Sansa said as she stopped gyrating above him.

“No, I’m fine, ” he insisted as he covered a yawn.

“You aren’t, ” Sansa laughed as she climbed off him, letting his cock fall from inside her, and lay bedside him. “You are a hair’s breath away from snoring.”

“It’s the day before. ..”

“I do realize that, ” Sansa said as she pulled the furs up over their naked bodies. “But I’d also like an active participant for a husband. ”

“I’m sorry, ” he yawned anew as his eyes closed.

“It’s okay, Jon, just sleep, ” Sansa said as she patted his chest.

He covered her hand with his and turned his head to the side to nuzzle the side of her face.

“It was a great celebration tonight, ” Sansa spoke more to herself than him.

“Aye, it was, ” Jon said softly.

“You’ve forgotten your dance lessons though, ” Sansa chuckled to herself.

“Why did we dance? ” Jon asked quietly. “ I thought we agreed. ..not to? ”

Sansa heard his voice fading and knew he needed his rest. If she told him about Geos he’d get upset and go wake the arse out of his bed to beat him senseless.

“I forgot we’d agreed, ” Sansa said softly.

She listened for a moment and then heard his soft snores beside her. She’d tell him about Geos only if it was necessary, anything else would start a war and they were trying to build relationships, not dissolve them.

Sansa snuggled into her husband’s frame and yawned. It had been a long day.


	31. 31

“We’re going to be. …late. ..for. ..for. ..”

“Breakfast? ” Jon smiled down at his wife who could no longer complete a sentence.

Sansa nodded her head and he continued to slap against her naked body. She was under him with her legs up high and bent pushing her feet against his shoulders. It was an incredibly undignified position but it felt amazing.

“I can’t think of a more Northern tradition than warming your morning bed this way, ” Jon laughed as he watched her eyes roll back. “Can you my Queen? ”

Sansa shook her head ‘no’ as beads of sweat started to form at her hairline. No, the room was quite hot right now as his flesh pummeled hers.

“And I need to make right what didn’t happen when we went to bed last night, or this morning, depending on how you. ..look at it” Jon smiled down at her wolfishly.

Sansa couldn’t find words so she just shook her head from side to side. She was sooooo close to pure joy.

“And today is the day I put a babe inside you, ” Jon said as he kissed her ankle. “You won’t be able to walk straight, my Lady. ”

Sansa huffed below him and managed to whisper “guests”

“Aye, our guests will have to accommodate our schedule, ” Jon chuckled. “They will know how much I love my wife. ”

Sansa looked at him alarmed.

“You are my wife Sansa,” he said as he pounded into her a couple of more times before she cried his name. “And it’s not unheard of for young couples as ourself to make small escapes throughout the day. No one says why, but they all know.”

And then he was suddenly hitting just the right spot and a silent cry formed on her lips as joy spread over her face and her body melted. She watched Jon pick up speed and then empty into her with a satisfied grunt.

Sansa felt like her entire body was on fire. This undignified position was one of the best for mutual satisfaction, but she couldn’t help the feeling of exposure in it. Jon slowly gained his composure and dropped back on his haunches allowing her legs a little rest.

“Gods Sansa, you’re gorgeous, ” he said as he softly cupped her ass cheek. “I would like to stay in here all day, stay in you all day, and forget we have guests.”

She smiled up at him and then felt her legs being pushed back up, her knees almost at her shoulders.

“Thirty minutes, ” Jon said, like a tutor handing out homework. “I will join them in the dining hall now, and you come once you’ve done this.”

“Pass me the furs, ” Sansa said, still finding her breath hard to get.

Jon smiled at her and got up of the bed and walked toward the dressing room.

“Jon?” Sansa called to him as she lay naked in this incredibly undignified position. “Jon?”

A minute passed before she saw him again.

“I will get you the furs, ” he said as he returned with a wet linen wiping his face and neck and some fresh clothes draped over his shoulder. “Once I leave. ”

“Jon!” Sansa huffed as her face turned beet red.

“Don’t deny your King this gorgeous view of his lady,” Jon asked with mock sadness. “It’s all that will get me through breakfast.”

“You are serious? ” Sansa asked as she watched him approach like he was the hunter, and she the prey.

He unabashedly stroked a hand down her naked leg from ankle to her peach and cupped her right there. Then he leaned down and took some time kissng both her ass cheeks. Sansa felt new shivers run through her body.

“I am absolutely serious, ” he whispered before he stood up and placed a fur next to her on the bed. “I’d like the view before I leave, but I won’t deny you the fur, if that’s what you prefer. ”

Sansa watched him slowly dress and watch her as she lay on their bed with her fanny exposed and her face, she was sure, red as a tomato. She could cover herself but there was something sinfully erotic about being able to, and not.

In the end she lay there while he dressed and watched her, exposed for only him to see. Before he left he took some time to kiss her down one side from head to toes. He then covered her with a fur, and kissed her soundly on her lips.

“Thank you, ” he growled before he stood and left for breakfast.

Once he was gone, Sansa yanked off the fur. The erotic experience had made her too hot for any fur. She wished in that moment he came back through the doors and said 'to hell with breakfast’ and fuck her instead; for her body hummed that it was ready again.


	32. 32

Sansa sat stitching a lovely direwolf into a napkin. She had been working on them for two weeks and hoped to give each family a set when they left as a parting gift and a reminder of their King.

Lady Frankum sat quietly next to her stitching some gloves, Lady Mormont was across from her stitching a tunic and talking with Helena Vorray quite attentively.

“You have a steady hand, ” Sansa complimented Opine Frankum.

“Thank you, my Lady, ” Opine blushed as she looked up at Sansa from her task. “I spend a lot of time with a needle. ”

“It shows, ” Sansa commented. “You’re 14? Have you been promised to anyone Opine?”

“Not as yet my lady, ” Opine blushed.

“I was married and with child at your age, ” Lady Kronos added. “Why the wait? ”

Sansa watched Opine exchange hurried glances with her mother.

“Just not the right family yet, my Lady, ” Opine explained.

“And which are the right ones? ” Lady Mormont inquired.

“I’m. ..I’m …I’m not sure, ” Opine admitted. “Geos is making all the arrangements. ”

“Surely you know which families are being considered, Lady Frankum, ” Lady Vorray interjected.

Lady Frankum blushed and bowed her head and looks were exchanged amongst the women in the group.

“The King is excited about the hunt tomorrow, ” Sansa said, to break the tension.

“So is my Lord, ” Lady Vorray smiled amicably. “There’s nothing like a caribou hunt. ”

“Will you all be riding? ” Sansa asked.

Most women nodded.

“I’m with babe so I’ll stay back, ” Lady Vorray said plainly.

“When does your husband plan to get a babe on you, my Lady? ” Lady Kronos asked Sansa boldly.

“When the gods allow it, ” Sansa said as she swallowed hard. “We want one quite a lot.”

“You can take one of mine! ” Lady Vorray laughed. “Three babes in three years. ..at this rate I’ll have 20 children! ”

All of the women laughed but Sansa couldn’t help the painful turn in her stomach knowing she’d never have so many babes to offer to others, even in jest. She hoped for at least one babe at this point.

“Have you seen your Maester for guidance? ” Lady Frankum whispered as the other women chatted away about how bothersome their children were.

“I have, ” Sansa nodded. “We’re hoping not long. ”

Sansa was surprised when Lady Frankum reached over and gently patted her knee in a kind, motherly, gesture.

Then she sat back and it was done. Sansa’s ears perked trying to catch the place they were in their stories.

“And he ate all the pudding? ” Lady Mormont asked astonished.

“He did, ” Lady Kronos laughed. “Enough that he was regretting that pudding for days. ”

All of the ladies laughed with her and looked up when heavy footfalls came into the room.

The ladies all jumped to their feet when they saw it was the King.

“I’m sorry to disturb, my ladies, ” Jon bowed politely. He was in his sparring gear and sweaty. “I just need to borrow the Queen for a bit. ”

Sansa nodded and dropped her stitching into a basket . She went to the King and he kissed her boldly as soon as she was close enough.

“Thank you for allowing my wife a break from entertaining you, ” Jon said sincerely before he guided her from the room.

Sansa heard some giggles as the door shut behind her. They knew exactly what he was borrowing her for.


	33. 33

“The singers are splendid, ” Lyfn said to Jon more than Sansa.

“They’re a very famous Northern troupe that the King managed to persuade to come out of retirement to perform. ” Sansa answered politely. “When they are finished their break, they’ll have more instruments. ”

“So you know them? ” Lyfn asked.

“The King learned to play the fiddle with them when we were young, “ Sansa explained.

“You did, your majesty? ” Lyfn gasped. 

Jon tried to cover the annoyance he felt for the girl, but Sansa could laugh at his poor acting abilities. 

“They taught the Queen to play the harp, ” Jon answered; avoiding any sort of further interacting with the girl. 

“It’s such a romantic instrument, ” Lyfn cooed. 

“It gives you painful blisters and once mother saw that it hardened my fingers, I stopped playing, ” Sansa explained. “But he King was quite good at the fiddle.”

“Would your majesty play for us? ” Lyfn asked, boldly. 

“I don’t have an instrument, ” Jon said as he clasped Sansa’s hand and motioned for her to rise with him. “I’m sorry, you’ll have. ..” 

“I’m sure they’d lend you one, you’re grace, ” Lyfn said boldly, standing as well. 

“The King does not entertain his citizens, ” Sansa said clearly before they took a step away together. 

Sansa walked with Jon down a hallway wondering if he just needed some air or space when all of a sudden he was kissing her passionately and backing her against a wall. 

“Jon, ” she gasped surprised. 

She felt him reaching between them and ricking up her skirts. 

“We can’t here, someone will. ..” Sansa whispered as she felt her skirts bunched about her hips. 

“Not if we’re quick enough, ” Jon whispered back as he freed his cock. 

Sansa’s heart was racing as she looked up and down the long hallway and, seeing no one, quickly undid her small clothes for him. 

"You should just go without, ” he said as he guided himself inside her. 

“What a very Southern. …notion, ” her breath hitched as he filled her. 

The act was quick and in delicate but left both their faces flushed and their breath short. After he recovered he quickly knelt before her and pulled up her small clothes so she could do them up while he watched for anyone coming their way. They both fixed her skirts and she tried to smooth back her hair. 

“Now you have a glow, ” Jon said softly as he helped flatten a stand gone askew. “I thought your outfit was missing something. ” 

She chuckled at his statement and he joined her. 

“I’d be wise to miss my small clothes on days like today, ” She snickered as she fixed her blouse. 

“Have you counted? Because I’ve lost track. ..” Jon said as he scratched at his beard. 

"Once before breakfast, " Sansa started to count off. 

"Aye, that was a good toss," Jon smiled. 

"While I was sewing with the ladies, after luncheon..." 

"Sorry about that, " Jon apologized. 

The time after luncheon he'd started to undress the second they walked in their rooms and was down to his breeks when he scared Fanny half to death as she walked in from their dressing room. 

"While I was trying to wash up before dinner, " Sansa said as she narrowed her eyes at him. 

Just then Ithaca Kronos came into the hallway at the far end. He was kissing a maid and turned a corner without even noticing them. 

"I think I got you dirtier, " Jon whispered as he rubbed at his beard.

"You did, " Sansa chided.

They both listened to see if Ithaca would return but heard nothing. He and the maid had disappeared into a room or another corridor. 

"And just now, " Jon said, watching her check her person before they returned. 

"Lyfn' s talk of musicians got you going? " Sansa winked at him. 

"Your dress did that enough, " he said as he eyed her plentiful bosom. 

Sansa laughed and leaned slightly for him to get a better look. He growled hungrily and reached for them. 

"If you want to spend all night in this hallway, you'll keep doing that, Sansa, " he said with a low voice as he teased her nipples through the material. 

She batted away his hands and giggled. 

"Later, " She said with a sultry voice. 

"Promise? " Jon asked as he backed her again against the wall and kissed her soundly as his hands roamed her sides. 

"If we don't leave now, we never will, " she giggled as she pulled free of him, grabbed his hand and led him back.


	34. 34

Sansa led her horse to a stream and gave her the opportunity to drink. The hunt had gone cold and different people had spread out to decide which direction to head. Sansa participated out of obligation not desire.

She had not slept much last night as her determined husband tried to bed her as much as possible in hopes of a babe, and in celebration of their one year anniversary today. She was exhausted and sore but, as she looked at Jon instructing others, he looked no worse for wear. How that was possible, she wasn’t sure, for he was the more vigorous participant.

She remembered the incident in the hallway-a risk for sure, but a titillating encounter. Sansa thought of his hands slowly disrobing her when they retired to bed that night. And her heart started to pound in her chest when she remembered him waking her in the middle of the night with his mouth on her neck and entering her from behind as he cuddled against her back. Sansa thought of the time he worked her into a frenzy sucking on her nipples and wished her a whispered ‘happy anniversary’ as he spilled inside her early this morning. Sansa felt a wetness in her small clothes and looked around to see if anyone had noted the blush that ran across her cheeks at these thoughts of her husband.

“A word, my Queen?” Lady Mormont asked as she siddled up next to her in her horse.

“Of course, ” Sansa replied.

Sansa watched Lady Mormont look around to make sure they were alone.

“I know why the Vorrays are not jumping to support you, ” Lady Mormont said candidly.

Sansa raised her eyebrows and encouraged her to continue.

“Lord Vorray owes a great deal of money to Lord Frankum,” Lady Mormont explained. “There was a problem with their stores and the Frankums gave them the necessary supply until the stock could be restored. They have only paid the Frankums half of what is owed. ”

“And Lord Frankum…”

“Probably knows nothing of Geos’ pressure on them to not side with you, ” Lady Mormont continued.

“So we either pay their bill so they are free. ..”

“Or get to the old man, ” Lady Mormont added .

“And you’re sure Geos is holding this over their heads? ” Sansa asked.

“I’m fairly certain, ” Lady Mormont whispered as Lyfn approached. “You need to confirm it. ”

“Thank you Lady Mormont for your work and candor in our behalf, ” Sansa smiled at her.

“The King thinks west is the best option, ” Lyfn said as she came close to them. 

“Then we must follow the King,” Sansa said simply as she coaxed her horse forward and left them.

“Always, ” Lyfn smiled more to herself than anyone else as she ogled Jon.

Lady Mormont looked at her and scowled.

“And who are you to marry? ” She asked Lyfn.

“It hasn’t been decided yet, ” Lyfn said softly as she followed Jon with her eyes. 

Lady Mormont looked at the object of Lyfn’s affection and sighed.

“Well one thing is for sure about your future husband, ” Lady Mormont said clearly.

“What? ” Lyfn asked, breaking her gaze from Jon to look at her.

“Your betrothed won’t already be married, ” Lady Mormont said sternly before she galloped away.


	35. 35

“Just to get it off the table, ” Sansa said as she watched her husband ogling her while she bathed. “I’m sore.”

“Did I hurt you? ” Jon asked, pausing mid-tunic disrobing. She could hear he was ashamed.

“No, of course not, ” Sansa replied honestly as she watched him approach the tub. “You used me well up until the morning, and with all the riding. ..”

“Gods Sansa, ” he gasped as he sat down on a stool beside her. “I hadn’t thought. ”

“I’m fine, just not for any…activities, ” Sansa smiled at him. “Please don’t look at me like that, Jon. ”

Jon raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Like a maid you’ve forced yourself upon… a victim,” Sansa sighed as she reached for his hand and clasped it in hers. “I was as happy to participate as you. But combined with the riding, I’m afraid it’s too much. ”

“What can I do to help you? I feel so…brutish. ”

Sansa laughed at his word choice.

“You are not a brute with me Jon, nor have you ever been, ” Sansa said as she squeezed his hand. “I love you. We just got. ..zealous.”

“I can think of other words for me, ” He sighed as he dropped her hand from his.

She could see he was beating himself up about this and no amount of reassurance on her behalf was going to help. A topic change may help.

“So have you thought on what Lady Mormont shared with me? ”

“We can’t unseat Geos, and we barely have enough to keep our own stores stocked,” Jon noted.

“I know, ” Sansa sighed. “But I was thinking about Bete Frankum. He’s actually the heir and residing in the South or not, he should have a say, am ultimate say, in what is happening at Pinehurst. We could write him.”

“Does he care? ” Jon asked as he toed off his boots.

“Probably very little, but Pothia, his wife may. She’s only a Lannister cousin and her fortune and land is limited” Sansa sighed as she washed her arms. The hunt today had made everyone incredibly dirty. “Get in. ”

“No, I…” Jon stammered, painfully aware of the state she was in.

“You’re filthy, ” Sansa said as she assessed him. “And dinner is soon. ”

“I’ll just wash up and. ..” Jon said as he stood from his stool and walked to the wash basin. Sansa could see he had no intention of joining her.

“Please don’t make it like this between us, ” Sansa pleaded.

“I’ll leave you to your bath, Sansa, ” Jon said quietly before he left their dressing room.

Sansa sunk lower into the water and sighed. It wasn’t the best start to their first anniversary feast this evening.


	36. 36

“And then he said ‘why?’ just like that!” Helena Vorray laughed at her own joke as Sansa, Lady Kronos, and Lady Frankum politely chuckled.

“Men can be so ridiculous,” Helena Vorray continued to laugh.

“That they can,” Sansa mumbled as she watched her husband down another ale with Geos Frankum and Ithaca Kronos. He had been overly friendly with them all evening and had hardly had a glance for her. 

They had sat side by side eating and hardly speaking as their guests enjoyed the food and toasted their anniversary with wishes of a fruitful marriage. Ser Davos had given a wonderful speech about them as a couple and how they worked side by side. Jon had merely pecked her cheek at the end and nothing more. Sansa wished she hadn’t said anything to him while she bathed. He now likened himself to Ramsay bloody Bolton and that was not an easy task. She should have just allowed him some fun; she’d lived with worse pain in the past.

But things with Jon were different, honest. He was her husband as well as her partner and she couldn’t lie to him or deceive him in any way. If he’d found out she’d allowed him to bed her and it caused her pain his reaction would be far worse than this one. No, she’d done the right thing. He just needed to brood for a while.

“My lady, you should open the dancing,” Lyfn said as she approached their group. “It’s bad luck to dance before the couple on their anniversary, so no one dances until you do.”

Sansa had forgotten that Northern tradition, never having had an anniversary to uphold it. She looked around and saw Jon laughing with Geos and clapping him on the back. She looked at Lyfn and got an idea.

“Please tell the King what you told me,” Sansa said with a smile. “And tell him his Queen is waiting for him.”

“I will my lady,” Lyfn said excitedly. 

Sansa watched her approach Jon and his look of bewilderment as the young girl leaned in to speak with him.

“Your daughter is very...free,” Lady Frankum noted.

“Too free,” Lady Kronos replied. “I need to match her soon before she makes a mistake that will keep her from any marriage.” 

“I think every mother thinks that, but so few girls do,” Helena Vorray commented.

“More and more young women are, aren’t they?” Lady Kronos asked Sansa.

Sansa swallowed hard, thinking the statement sounded accusatory.

“None that I know,” Sansa countered. “Who are you considering?” 

“Hef Mernish, and Farley Mormont,” Lady Kronos replied. “Both are older than her but from good families. The deal with Mernish House is a better one but she seems to like Farley more.”

“It’s nice of you to consider who she likes,” Lady Frankum said solemnly. 

“It is for life,” Lady Kronos sighed. “Had Ithaca taken more time...he might have been happier.”

“He’s not?” Sansa asked as she watched Jon continue to drink his ale and talk to the men around him despite the dance needing to start.

“My Queen you are being kind,” Lady Kronos sighed. “My son has bed several of your house staff this trip as his wife lays in a cold bed. Luckily they’ve already produced heirs so that’s something.”

All the women around her nodded and Sansa found herself lost in thought about heirs as they continued to talk around her. Would she be smart to release Jon from their union if an heir wasn’t produced by their next anniversary? Many a marriage had been dissolved for similar reasons, it wasn’t unheard of. Jon, wouldn’t be keen, but when she logically explained it to him...

“May I have this dance, my Lady?” Jon asked Sansa as he pulled her from her thoughts.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Sansa smiled up at him and took his hand.

He led her to the dance floor and they danced fairly smoothly to the music being played. Jon was not the more graceful of dancers but it was nice to be close to him again after a day of absence. He smelled of the hunt still, with a faint soap scent and a strong ale aroma.

“You’ve been enjoying yourself with the men,” Sansa said as she eyed him carefully.

“I have,” he smiled jovially back at her.

“Jon, can we end this cold treatment now, please?” Sansa asked.

“I’m sorry?” He pretended to not know what she spoke of.

“I was simply being honest and...”

“Honest that I had mistreated you, something I swore I would never...” Jon interrupted.

“You didn’t bloody mistreat me!” Sansa snapped through gritted teeth as others joined the dancing around them. “We are trying to make a babe and giving it all we can.”

“I hurt you and I can’t forgive...”

“You didn’t hurt me,” Sansa hissed quietly at him. “Ramsay Bolton hurt me when he raped me. When he shoved things inside me. When he cut me. When he forced me to do all manner of twisted, horrible...”

“Stop!” Jon whispered harshly as he stopped dancing and clasped her face in his hands . “I hate that those things happened to you. I hate that he hurt you and I can’t take that back. I want to. I want to take it all back and give you your innocence, but I can’t. The least I can do is not harm you, and I failed you in that respect.”

Sansa leaned forward and kissed him hard on his lips. When he went to pull away she deepened the kiss despite their audience and the ridiculous show they were putting on. She kissed him until she had to pull back and gasp for air.

“You could never fail me, Jon. You have never failed me. All I want is for you to trust me and love me. Believe that the words I say are true. Can you do that? Can you?” Sansa whispered.

Jon nodded and swallowed hard. “I can.”

“Then, just be my love,” Sansa said softly as she touched his face.

He smiled at her then. A real full smile that she hadn’t seen all day and she knew her Jon was back.


	37. 37

Sansa woke with Jon spooning the back of her and his hand firmly planted on her breast. It was nice to feel everything was back to normal again. She lay for a while just enjoying the feel of him enveloping her and protecting her.

“There’s something off about Opine Frankum,” Jon said suddenly from behind her.

“You’re awake?” Sansa rolled toward him, surprised.

His hand slipped off her breast and he shifted back slightly to make room for her. Jon waited for her to settle against him and then placed the hand that had formerly been on her breast on her shift covered ass cheek.

“Why would you say that?” Sansa asked.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something...off,” Jon said as he squeezed her butt cheek.

“I know she and her mother are frightened of Geos,” Sansa said thoughtfully. “You can see it in the way they do and don’t interact. But off? I haven’t, honestly, spoken with her much.”

“Try and spend some time with her today,” Jon asked her, kissing her brow. 

“Women are different, Jon,” Sansa explained. “Just because Lyfn is throwing herself at you...”

“And I’m not catching,” he reminded.

“Yes, thank you for that,” Sansa smiled at him. “But just because Opine isn’t like Lyfn doesn’t mean anything is...off. She seems shy.”

Jon sighed and massaged her ass cheek as he thought.

“Maybe that’s it, but I’d like you to be certain,” Jon said as she felt her shift being hitched up. “Don’t chastise, I’m just exploring.”

“Exploring what?” Sansa flirted as her ass was bared and he rolled toward her to start kissing it.

“Exploring this beautiful territory I like to call the foothills,” Jon joked as she rolled onto her stomach and he lay beside her kissing her ass cheeks.

“They will be larger hills if I am with a babe, one day,” Sansa laughed as she felt the tickle of his beard on her sensitive cheeks.

“When you are with a babe,” Jon said as he continued to kiss her. “There will just be more to explore.”

Sansa chuckled as she continued to feel him ‘explore’.

“And this, is the valley,” Jon said as he ran a single finger along her ass crack.

Sansa stiffened at his touch and he stopped all movement. 

“Trust me to not do anything but in fun,” Jon said softly.

Her body relaxed slightly and Jon moved his kisses towards her lower back.

“And these are the plains,” he said as he planted kisses on her spine.

“At one point in time, my chest could have been considered the plains,” Sansa said trying to lighten the mood she had cast with her tension.

“Yes, I do remember that,” Jon chuckled and Sansa swatted at him.

“And this is where the wind blows wild,” Jon said as he started to blow across her skin and create goose flesh.

Sansa giggled and shivered all at the same time.

“And lastly, these are the craigy rocks that battle fierce sea winds,” he said as he nuzzled her shoulder blades.

“You are so complimentary,” Sansa chided. “Craigy rocks?”

“You need more meat on your bones so your rocks are less craigy,” Jon chuckled.

Sansa rolled onto her back with her shift caught about her waist and looked up at her beautiful husband.

“Whatever would I do without you?” She asked as she looked into his eyes.

“Let us not find out,” Jon said as he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.


	38. 38

“I’m sorry I’ve been remiss,” Sansa apologized as she walked with Opine Frankum through the Godswood. “It’s been a while since you have visited the glass garden. We’ve re-built it.”

“Thank you for showing me, my Queen,” Opine said quietly as they walked.

“Are you enjoying your visit to Winterfell?” Sansa asked.

“I am,” Opine said.

“Is there anything you wish to do while here that you have not?”

“No, my Queen, whatever you and the King have planned is lovely,” Opine said softly, not meeting Sansa’s eyes.

“You’re quite easily pleased, are you not?” Sansa noted.

“It is not my place to be displeased,” Opine said softly.

They walked in silence for a few paces before Sansa spoke again.

“The other day,” Sansa started. “You said you were unaware of who was being considered for your betrothal. And you mother was unaware as well?”

Opine just nodded her head as they approached the Glass garden doors.

“Why is your mother not involved in the choice?” Sansa asked, boldly. She could tell subtlety would take forever with the girl.

“I’m not...I’m not sure,” Opine simply said as she looked around the Godswood as if a bear was going to jump out from behind every tree.

“It’s odd,” Sansa began as she opened the glass garden door and ushered Opine inside. “That she’s not insisting on involvement.”

Sansa watched the girl breathe in the humid air of the glass garden and sigh.

“Lovely, isn’t it?” Sansa smiled at the girl as she reached for Opine’s cloak to hang it on the hook.

Opine gasped, flinched and stepped away from Sansa all at once.

“Opine?” Sansa asked, startled.

“I’m...I’m sorry, my Lady...uh, my Queen...” Opine stammered.

“Are you alright?” Sansa asked, worried.

“Just startled is all,” Opine said as she placed an obviously fake smile across her face.

“Is that all?” Sansa questioned.

“Yes, I apologize,” Opine said as she lifted her own cloak off her shoulders and place it on a hook.

Sansa was so shocked at Opine’s reaction, and the feeling it gave her in her gut, that she didn’t speak for several minutes while they walked the gardens. Opine seemed pleased that all talk had stopped.

“Are you treated well? At Pinehurst?” Sansa inquired.

“Yes, of course,” Opine said quickly.

“You get along with your parents, your brothers?” Sansa asked as she studied the girl.

“I do,” Opine answered quietly as she fidgeted with her fingers.

“Because if anything was wrong,” Sansa began as she eyed the young lady and a knot built in her stomach. “The King would protect you.”

Opine looked at Sansa with teary eyes and swallowed hard. “I’m very happy, my Queen.”

“Opine, you can...” Sansa started but stopped when she heard the door to the glass gardens open.

“Who goes there?” Sansa called out as she looked at Opine before her, the girl was biting her lip so hard it looked like it may bleed.

“I’m looking for my sister, Lady Targarean,” Geos Frankum called out as Sansa heard his approach.

Sansa looked at Opine across from her and noted she had started to shake and breath short quick breaths.

“We are here,” Sansa called out as she placed a protective hand on Opine’s arm and nodded toward the girl in, what she hoped, was a calming way.

“Ahh, there you are,” Geos said as he walked toward the pair of them. “I went looking for you Opine, and you were no where to be found until a maid told me that Lady Targaryen had dragged you to the glass garden.”

Sansa put on a fake smile and stepped slightly in front of Opine.

“I’ve been showing her the gardens,” she said as she felt Opine shake behind her.

“How...kind of you to take your precious time to personally tour my sister about the place,” Geos said with a mock bow. “Opine has to get back though.”

“We haven’t completed our tour,” Sansa said.

“Another time,” Geos said as he looked at his cowering sister behind Sansa. “Come along Opine!”

“I insist we finish our tour,” Sansa said vehemently.

“I admire your drive to educate my sister on gardens,” Geos said as he stepped forward and stood toe-to-toe with Sansa. She could smell his stale breath on her forehead. “But she is needed by my mother and I have no time to play errand boy.”

“I’m coming,” Opine said as she dodged around Sansa and skittered past her brother.

“But Opine...” Sansa called out to her as Geos stepped back to follow his sister.

“Thank you so much for the tour!” Opine called out before she threw her cloak over her shoulders and rushed out the door.

Sansa watched, totally unable to help the situation. Then Geos turned at the door and mockingly bowed to her from a distance.

In a loud voice he called “It’s wonderful when they are so eager to please.”

Sansa felt her stomach drop as the door to the glass house smacked shut behind him.


	39. 39

“Jon, Opine wasn’t at dinner, ” Sansa whispered to her husband.

“I’m sorry I’ve made you paranoid about the girl, ” Jon whispered back. “She may not feel well. ”

In truth, Sansa hadn’t the opportunity to tell Jon about what had happened in the glass garden with Geos and Opine. He had been in Winter town and riding with men all day. He had come back as she was finalizing dinner plans and they had not even spoken until they sat at dinner surrounded by others.

“Something happened that disturbed me, ” Sansa said quietly.

“We’ll talk about it later, ” he whispered back as Ithaca Kronos approached them.

“Thanks for helping me out in Winter town my King, ” Ithaca slurred. He was obviously drunk.

“Think nothing of it, ” Jon said dismissively.

“Your husband rescued me from what could have been a very embarrassing situation, ” Ithaca said as he leaned heavily on the table.

“I’m glad of it, my Lord,” Sansa said confused as she looked toward Jon who shook his head.

“Stay in love, ” Ithaca said as he looked into Sansa’s eyes. “Because there’s no hiding from your spouse when you fall out of it. ”

“That’s good advice, my Lord, ” Sansa nodded and tried not to smirk.

“And bedding is not love, no matter how much you want it to be, ” Ithaca said as he wagged a finger at the two of them. “I can bed any woman I like but can’t get my wife to love me again. ”

“Perhaps less bedding of other women, Ithaca? ” Jon suggested.

Ithaca laughed and slapped his hand on the table. “It’s the hen or the egg….the hen or the egg. …”

“Would you like to return to your chambers and rest? ” Sansa asked kindly.

“Return to a cold bed? No I’d rather lay on a table in the Great Hall! ”

“Ithaca, let’s not embarrass your lady wife, ” Sansa suggested.

“No Jon helped. …what was her name? ” Ithaca asked Jon.

“Whyte, ” Jon mumbled.

“Yes! Whyte with the whitest tits! ”

“Ithaca….” Jon warned. The conversation was not appropriate in front of his wife.

“Oh yes, sorry, ” Ithaca covered his mouth. “ Don’t want you to get in trouble too! ”

“Ithaca, I think Max can help you find suitable chambers. ..” Jon called to Max with his hand and Ithaca was taken away.

“I do believe I need an explanation, ” Sansa said annoyed.

Jon sighed and leaned into her frame so their conversation was private.

“I found him in a brothel in Winter town and I extracted him from a delicate situation, ” Jon explained.

“Delicate? ” Sansa asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He’d paid for 3 women and had bedded two but lost his. ..by the third. …”

“Go on, ” Sansa said.

“When I went to extract him the….women. ..were taunting him that they got more use of his money then he did of them. ..”

Sansa just looked at him and waited for him to continue.

“He asked me to go with the last woman so they would stop taunting, so I did, ” Jon explained.

“You slept with a woman at the brothel? ” Sansa asked, enraged.

“ No, I went into a room with her for a few minutes and gave her some money to say I’d given her a toss. I didn’t bed her Sansa, I swear.”

“Couldn’t you have just said ‘no’” Sansa snapped a little too loudly.

“Two men’s honor was at stake. ..” Jon hissed. “You know I’d never. ..”

Sansa narrowed her eyes at him. “Why did this woman agree to this false telling of events? ”

Jon shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

“Jon? ” Sansa warned.

“When I was a young lad, Theon and Robb took me there, ” Jon explained. “ I was too terrified to sleep with a woman in case I brought a bastard on her. But I let her do other things. ..”

“And it was this same woman? ”

“Aye, ” Jon said.

“And did she do these 'things’ to you this time? ” Sansa asked as she saw Ser Davos approach.

“No! ” Jon said vehemently. “Do you think I want to end up like bloody Ithaca Kronos? !”

“Jon, shh, ” Sansa chided.

“Sansa, on my honor, I didn’t touch the woman or any other, and I won’t as long as we are married, ” Jon said solemnly.

Sansa leaned closer and kissed him. Jon would always be an honorable man and husband.

“My King and Queen, ” Ser Davos said. “ Perhaps it’s time to encourage everyone to their chambers. It’s the tournament tomorrow and we won’t have any able bodied men to fight. ”

“Good point Ser Davos,” Jon said as Sansa scanned the room.

“I don’t see Geos,” Sansa muttered.

“Geos Frankum?” Ser Davos asked. “He told me he was going to show his sister the glass garden not too long ago. ”

“Oh gods, Jon,” Sansa said as she clamped down on his forearm.

“Is anything wrong my Queen?” Ser Davos asked, concerned.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you. Please round up everyone and send them to their chambers. The King and I will retire. ”

Sansa got up quickly and almost pulled Jon from the Hall.

“What’s the matter? ” Jon asked concerned.

“Jon we need to go to the glass garden now! I’ll explain along the way. Hurry!”


	40. 40

Sansa raced with Jon out of the Great Hall.

“Opine flinched when I tried to take her cloak,” Sansa said breathless as they went down some stairs. “And she said she had no idea who she would be matched with. And both she and Lady Frankum seem so scared of him. ”

“ Sansa, you’re going to fall, ” Jon said as he grabbed her arm quickly before she tripped at the bottom of the stairs.

“Jon, he said he liked that she was eager top please and I knew. ..I knew exactly what he meant because it was the way Ramsay spoke to me! ” Sansa cried as she traced out a for with Jon quick at her heels. “And it always felt like he was stripping me with his eyes. ..”

“Geos?” Jon asked, confused.

“He’s abusing her Jon, I know it in my gut, ” Sansa said as she ran and lost her breath. “I should have said something! Especially when I think back to his threat. ..”

“He threatened you? ” Jon asked as he grabbed her and halted her forward motion so he could face her.

“He grabbed me and wanted to know if you’d fucked me yet, ” Sansa said with tears in her eyes. “Ser Davos interrupted, but. ..but. ..there was a threat in the air and. ..”

“Ahhhh!” A woman screamed from inside the glass garden.

Jon dropped his hands from her shoulders and took off in a fast run toward the glass garden.

He burst through the door and saw Opine bent over a gardening table and her brother taking her from behind.

“Stop! ” Jon yelled as he ran toward the pair and, before Geos could get his bearings, Jon caught him with a strong punch to the jaw, dropping him back and away from his sister.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? ” Jon snapped as he watched Opine drop her skirts and fall to the floor in a fetal position.

“Are you. ..?” Jon started to ask the girl as Sansa charged past him and started to pummel Geos with her bare hands.

“Monster! ” Sansa screamed as she beat a half naked Geos with her fists.

“Sansa! ” Jon yelled as he pulled her off Geos and pushed her back towards Opine. “Get Opine out of here!”

“But Jon. ..”

“Now! ” Jon commanded.

Sansa’s face paled at his command and she quickly grabbed Opine’s hand and left the glass garden.


	41. 41

Sansa sat with Opine Frankum in her rooms waiting for Sam to arrive. She had quickly escorted Opine away from the glass garden and tucked the crying girl into a chair in their rooms. It was clear from the few words the girl had shared that this was not the first assault inflicted on her by her brother.

Sansa, for the life of her, could not tramp down the anger she felt for Geos or the confusion she felt when Jon yelled at her.

Sansa was pacing in front of the fire, attempting to warm herself, when Sam knocked and announced himself at the door.

“Come in, ” Sansa called as she watched Opine shrink even farther into the furs wrapped around her.

“My Queen, what can I do. ..” Sam stopped speaking when he noticed Opine in the room.

“She’s been raped, ” Sansa said plainly as she wrapped her arms around her own torso “Do you have anything to calm her? ”

“Of. ..of course, ” Sam stammered as he watched the girl.

“Opine, Sam is our Maester and a friend, ” Sansa tried to re assure. “ He’ll help you. ”

“ Is she injured? ” Sam asked Sansa candidly.

“I’m not sure, ” Sansa whispered back.

“Did you notice any bleeding? ” Sam asked Sansa.

“I honestly didn’t really look, ” Sansa said.

It was then that Sam noticed her shaking as well.

“Maybe you need something too my Lady? ” Sam asked as he produced an elixir.

“No, I’m fine, ” Sansa said as she tried to warm herself.

Sam walked carefully toward Opine and held out a small bottle.

“It will calm you my Lady, ” Sam said gently.

Opine reached out and carefully took it from him. Her eyes flitted to Sansa who nodded encouragingly. She uncorked it and drank back the entire bottle.

“Her assailant has been captured? ” Sam inquired.

“Yes, uh, Jon has him, ” Sansa stammered as she continued to try and warm herself.

Sam walked over to their bed and took a fur from it and placed it around Sansa’s shoulders before he settled her in a chair. He then walled to his bag and took out another elixir bottle and handed it to Sansa.

“You’re upset, ” Sam said kindly.

“I wasn’t. ..” Sansa started.

“I know, but you have been affected, ” Sam simply said before he sat down on a stool far enough from both women to not alarm them.

“My Lady, ” Sam said kindly. “Are you injured? ”

Opine shook her head in the negative.

“Do you feel as if you are bleeding? ” Sam asked nicely.

Opine shook her head in the negative.

“I’m sorry to ask this, ” Sam said softly. “But was he taking you where your maidenhead is or where your buttocks are? ”

Opine just started to cry. Sansa wanted to go to her, but she felt paralyzed in her place. Opine had been raped bent over, as Ramsey had many times raped her. Either point of entry was possible, as Sansa well knew.

“My lady? I only have a few more questions, but I need to know. ..” Sam tried again.

Opine continued to cry.

“Maybe Gilly? ” Sam turned to ask Sansa.

Sansa didn’t know how to advise him.

Sam turned back to Opine.

“Did he spill his seed inside you, because I can make moon tea to prevent. ..”

Opine nodded her head in the negative.

“Is there anything I can do to help you my Lady? ” Sam asked.

Opine again nodded in the negative.

Sam sighed and was about to ask Sansa some questions when the door opened. Both women visibly jumped in their seats.

“How are you Opine?” Jon asked as he walked toward her.

She cowered away from him and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“I’m sorry, ” Jon said when realization hit him that he’d frightened her by approaching her. “Your brother is under guard and I’ve sent for your mother. ”

Jon then looked at Sansa and he’s paled.

“Sansa, ” He gasped as he noticed her cowering as well.

“They’ve both had a shock, ” Sam supplied as Jon stood frozen in his spot. He didn’t want to upset his wife either.

Just then Lady Frankum appeared and ran to her daughter. Jon heard the words “not again”;the explanation he was about to give her mother caught in his throat. She knew exactly what happened.

“You knew? ” Jon asked, stunned.

“Not now, ” Sam whispered as he placed a hand on Jon’s shoulder.

“But. ..” Jon started.

“Allow me to escort you both back to your rooms, ” Sam offered.

Sam carefully walked the women from the room and closed the door behind him.

“Sansa. ..” Jon said as he walked toward her.

She shrunk back slightly and he paused.

“I’d never harm you, ” Jon said softly as he approached her.

“I know, ” She said through chattering teeth.

“He’s locked up and under guard, ” Jon said as he crouched before her. “Opine is safe and you are safe. ”

Sansa nodded and tears started to fall from her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, ” Jon said softly. “I’m sorry for Opine and I’m sorry for you. ”

Sansa cried as little harder.

Jon slowly stood and pulled her into a standing position.

“I’ll always keep you safe,” Jon said softly as he led her to their bed. “He can’t harm you anymore. ”

Sansa cried even harder as he helped her climb into their bed. He sat with his back to the headboard and encouraged her to place her head on his lap.

Jon slowly ran his hand through her hair and said comforting things until she fell asleep. Then he sat up guarding her from dream demons the rest of the night and was there to comfort her each time she woke screaming.


	42. 42

Sansa sat next to Jon in the Court watching Ithaca Kronos and Len Mormont meet swords. It was the tournament they had planned and a pall had been cast over it by everything that had occurred last night. And as Jon sat next to her, closing his eyes for brief moments again and again, Sansa regretted with all her might the nightmares that had kept him by her side throughout the night. 

She’d checked in on Opine this morning and practically had to bite her own tongue off when Lady Frankum explained how it hadn’t been that common ‘before’. Although she desperately wanted to know what she meant by that statement, the churning in Sansa’s gut meant she had to leave the room swiftly. Everything about that mother’s willingness to allow her daughter’s abuse made her want to vomit.

Jon had been good at keeping what had happened quiet for the sake of Opine, but murmurs of where Geos Frankum could be, had broken out several times. He was, of course, expected to fight in the tournament. Lady Frankum sat stoically with Helena Vorray, talking little. Her daughter was upstairs sleeping and her one son was in the cells under guard down below. 

Jon had sent a raven to Kings Landing last night asking Bete what he would like done with his brother. For, as much as it was Jon’s place to punish a crime that had occurred under his roof, he wanted to know what Bete Frankum wanted as well. 

Unfortunately, Geos had seen nothing wrong with what he’d done to his sister. And he’d even had the gall to tell Jon that he was no different when he took his own sister. Jon had cold punched him for that one and explained, quite clearly that his Queen, his cousin, came to his bed willingly, whereas he raped his innocent sister. 

“You should lay down,” Sansa said as she touched his hand. “I could say you are under the weather.”

“No,” Jon said as he straightened in his chair. “I’m expected to fight the winner of this match.”

“You can’t,” Sansa said as she grabbed his arm. “You are practically asleep in that chair”

“I’ll be fine,” Jon said as he wiped at his eyes. “It’s just for fun.”

“The swords have real blades,” Sansa said with wide eyes. 

“Yes, but the ends are dull, you can’t be sliced through,” Jon chuckled.

“That’s re assuring,” Sansa huffed. “Jon...”

“Len has won,” Jon said as he rose from his chair and pushed off his furs.”Wish me luck?”

He leaned into her face and she kissed him soundly on the lips.

“Good luck, you fool,” Sansa smiled up at him.

Jon smiled back and went over to grab one of the tournament swords.

The fight began as any other, each man feeling the other one out for weaknesses and strengths. Their swords met several times and once Sansa worried Len was going to get Jon’s leg but Jon caught him with his sword. At first it seemed that the tournament fight had revived Jon, made him sure-footed and awake for the first time that morning, but as time went on, he tired and got sloppy.

Then Jon tripped over a shield left laying on the ground near the side, and Len took advantage, slicing Jon’s arm swiftly and certainly, just below the shoulder.

Sansa stood and cried out.

Everyone looked to her and she suddenly felt dizzy. Sansa saw the world start to spin and she dropped to the ground on the spot. 

When she woke she was being hoisted up by her husband off the ground.

“Wha...?” Sansa asked, confused as Jon adjusted her in his arms and started to walk. 

“You’re fine but I think you hit your head,” Sam said as he hovered over her face, running next to Jon.

“My...Jon, your arm!” Sansa exclaimed as she realized he was reaching the end of the courtyard.

“It’s fine,” he said determinedly, but she saw the wince on his face when he took the first step up the staircase to their rooms.

“It’s not, you’re...”

“My shoulder is fine,” Jon sighed as he mounted the steps still carrying her. Sansa could hear a parade of people following them. 

“Jon, you will damage...” Sansa began but stopped when he paused on a stair, and kissed her soundly.

He then pulled back and started to climb the stairs again with her still in his arms.

“Why’d you do that?” Sansa asked.

“To shut you up,” Jon chuckled as he reached their door. Someone opened it for him and he walked to their bed and gently placed her down; kissing her softly as he did.

“What was that for?” Sansa asked as she settled into her pillow with her husband’s face still hovering over hers.

“Because I wanted to,” he said with a smirk before he stood up.


	43. 43

Sansa was laying in bed for the fourth day in a row and was bored to tears.

“I’m perfectly fine,” Sansa said to Sam as he listened to her breathing.

“You hit your head quite hard, my Lady,” Sam said as he reached for his box of teas.

“I have rested for days and now I feel quite prepared to…”

“Jon insisted that you stay in bed until I was sure…”

“But you are, aren’t you?”

Just then Fanny came into her room with a boiling pot of water for her tea.

“Fanny!” Sansa called to her. “Have you seen me once falter or…”

“No, my Queen,” Fanny replied.

“See!” Sansa cried.

“Jon said…”

“Jon just wants to protect me,” Sansa explained. “Over protect me. ”

“Drink this,” Sam said as he handed her a cup of weak tea.

“They’ve all left?” Sansa asked, bored.

“Yes, they all sent their well wishes,” Sam explained.

“The Frankums?” Sansa asked, quietly.

“Still here waiting on Jon’s decision,” Sam explained.

“Opine?” Sansa asked.

“Today she’s more herself, not happy or talkative, but not crying. ”

“Do we know what she wants?” Sansa asked.

“Her brother’s raven,” Jon said as he walked into the room.

“It came?” Sansa asked, excitedly.

“It did,” Jon said as he walked toward her. “You can leave Fanny.”

He winced as he sat down on their bed.

“And I’m the one who has to stay in bed?” Sansa scoffed.

“Please, not again,” Jon sighed.

“What does it say?”

“Exactly what we expected. He asks that we send him to the Wall and spare his life,” Jon explained as he handed her the scroll. “In return, he’ll take over Pinehurst until his father is well or his youngest brother is older.”

“Bete is moving back?” Sansa asked.

“He and Pothia are coming back straight away,” Jon explained.

“Wow,” Sansa sighed.

“I know,” Jon said as he lay back on their bed.

Sam gathered his things to leave.

“Thank you, Sam,” Sansa said.

Jon wiped at his eyes and yawned.

“You’re tired,” Sansa said as she lay down next to him.

“I should tell the Frankums about…”

“Let’s take a nap first,” Sansa said as she cuddled up next to him. “They can’t leave until morning at this point anyways and Opine is doing better. I’m afraid mentioning Geos might change her mood. ”

“I haven’t decided if I’m following what Bete asked,” Jon sighed.

“What?” Sansa asked surprised as she raised her head to see his face better.

“The Wall is too good for him after what he’s done to her,” Jon said as he massaged his forehead.

“You’re right,” Sansa sighed as she lay her head on his chest. “But killing him won’t take away what he did. ”

“Didn’t killing Ramsay help you?”

“It helped me to be rid of him forever, but it didn’t help me personally,” Sansa explained.

Jon nodded and said nothing.

“The Wall will make him useful,” Sansa said. “He’ll never harm her again. ”

“And we get a reasonable person in Pinehurst?”

Sansa nodded.

Join wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her even closer.

“Headaches?”

“None,” Sansa smiled against him. “There’s being protective and there’s being ludicrous, Jon. ”

“Fine,” Jon sighed as he nuzzled the top of her head. “After this nap. ”

Sansa smiled against his chest and sighed. A nap was in order.


	44. 44

Sansa bounced on her toes as she waited for Jon to finally reach the gates. He’d been gone almost a month returning Opine and her mother to Pinehurst and greeting Bete as he took his place as leader. In the end, Jon had sent Tormond to escort Geos to the Wall although, he argued, it was still too good for the rapist.

Opine had still been a slip of a girl when she left Winterfell but Jon had protected her reputation by keeping Geos crime quiet. Had he not, rape or not, Opine would have had a very limited possibility to marry one day. Now, reputation in tact, she could have whatever future she wished.

Sansa knew all too well that wounds from an assault like that take a great deal of time to heal, but she also knew they did heal; mostly.

Sansa stood watch on the ramparts of Winterfell and she was sure Jon looked up at her as he rode closer. Finally, when she couldn’t bear it any longer, she rushed down the mismatched steps and into the courtyard to await his arrival.

She soon found out she wasn’t the only one expectantly waiting for him. Davos was there with Tormond.

“Ser Davos, Tormond,” Sansa nodded to them when she arrived.

Ser Davos sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“My Lady,” Ser Davos sighed. “I’d like to discuss some matters with the King, but with you there….looking like that….”

Sansa stopped and looked down at herself. She was in a dress with a wolf on it. Her hair was in a long braid….

“I’m sorry?” Sansa asked, confused.

“You’re looking so good he’s going to want to take you to his bed,” Tormond explained.

Sansa blushed, it had been what she was thinking.

“My Queen, if I might just have an hour with the King…"Ser Davos started but was interrupted by a call.

"The King comes,” Max yelled loudly. “Open the gates!”

“Bloody hell,” Davos muttered under his breath.

Sansa started to bounce on her toes again uncaring of the annoying request. Jon had been gone almost a month; of course she was there to greet him!

The riders came in and Sansa immediately saw Jon in the pack. He looked happy to be home.

He dismounted and pulled her into his arms for a kiss.

“Missed you,” He mumbled against her lips.

Sansa started to cry and pulled him even closer to her frame.

After a few moments Jon pulled back and shook the hands of Davos and Tormond while he kept one arm around Sansa, holding her to him.

“He’s there?” Jon asked Tormond.

“Yes, and he’s pissed,” Tormond laughed. “All this ‘do you know who I am?’ talk”

Jon nodded his head and looked at Davos.

“I have a lot to share,” Jon said.

“I gathered as much from your ravens,” Davos smiled.

“Give me some time to change and we’ll discuss things over a meal, I’m starving,” Jon said before he turned to walk away with Sansa.

“And how have you been?” Jon asked conspiratorially as he walked with her.

“Well...I’ve been well,” Sansa said.

“I’m sorry I missed…”

“It’s fine,” Sansa said as she patted him on the chest.

“It was for good reason,” Jon aid quietly as he looked around the stairwell they climbed.

“Oh?”

“I rode to Castle Maplewood and negotiated a deal with the Vorrays on Bete’s behalf,” Jon explained. “He released them of their oath to support whomever Pinehurst supported and scheduled a reasonable re payment plan. They have backed us.”

“Oh Jon,” Sansa congratulated him with a quick kiss. “I’m so proud of you. ”

“And Bete was so grateful I’d preserved his sisters reputation and not killed his horrible brother that Pinehurst is now supporting us and the Dragon Queen. ”

“As we hoped!” Sansa smiled over at him as they reached their bedroom door.

“Gods, is it possible that you are more beautiful now them when I left?” Jon asked as he slammed the door to their bedroom behind him and dropped to his knees before her.

“Jon?” Sansa queried as she felt him pushing up her skirts.

“I have been dreaming about your taste,” He said with a muffled voice as he buried his head under her skirts and started to remove her small clothes.

“Jon, we do have a bed,” Sansa laughed as she felt her small clothes drop to the floor.

Then she felt his mouth on her peach kissing and licking and nipping at her. Sansa grabbed onto his head for support as he aggressively attacked her peach with his mouth. He made her cry out with satisfaction before his face appeared from under her skirts, kissed her soundly on the lips, and nodded toward their bed.

Sansa walked over to their bed and lay down breathing heavily from him taking her that way. She watched as Jon undid his belt, dropped his pants, lifted off his tunic, and finally released himself of his small clothes. He walked toward her completely naked, while she had on everything but her small clothes.

Sansa reached for her ties and Join stopped her.

“No,” he said as he climbed on top of her. “Just like this. ”

He pushed himself inside her wet channel and sighed; he’d come home. Jon lay quietly joined to her for a long time saying nothing as she stroked a hand through his hair.

Then, he started to move and it didn’t take long before his pumping became erratic and he spilled inside of her, completely spent.

“I’ll do better next…” Jon said quietly as he lay pressed into her.

“There is no better then you with me,” Sansa said softly as she gently drew circles on his back. “I missed you so much. ”

Jon nodded against her shoulder and lifted up slightly to look at her.

“I love you, Sansa,” Jon said sincerely.

“Good because you’ve put a babe in me,” Sansa smiled up at him.

“What?” Jon exclaimed, happily.

“I’m pregnant,” Sansa said as tears filled her eyes.

Jon leaned in and kissed her soundly before he reared back and off her.

“I shouldn’t be on you like…”

“I’m fine,” Sansa smiled at him.

“I was crushing you,” Jon said as he immediately put a hand in her lily white flat belly.

“No you weren’t,” Sansa laughed.

“A babe?” Jon asked with a huge smile.

“A babe,” Sansa confirmed with an ear to ear grin.


	45. 45

Sansa didn’t want to open her eyes in case it was all a dream. She was laying on her side with her legs tucked up against her swollen belly and she felt Jon’s warm, wet mouth on her peach. 

His head, was somehow between her legs and he was doing wonderful things to her. She reached out and blindly found his mass of hair and massaged his scalp.

“I’ve woken you?” Jon asked, his voice muffled between her legs.

Sansa nodded and sighed as he went back to work with his tongue.

His tongue delved into the farthest reaches of her and the tip of his nose hit the most lovely spot again and again as she gasped above him. He rolled her onto her back, not taking his mouth from her and threw her legs over his shoulders as he massaged her buttocks as well.

“Oh seven hells,” Sansa moaned as he had his way with her and she felt ecstasy wash over her body.

“I thought heaven was more appropriate,” Jon quipped as he slowly lowered her legs and climbed up the bed to lay beside her.

“Oh gods that was good to wake to,” Sansa said as she cupped his cheek. “Get inside of me.”

“Sansa...” Jon sighed as he placed his open palm on her beautifully swollen belly reminding her why he couldn’t get inside her. 

“He’ll be fine,” Sansa said as she linked her hand with his. “Just stay back a little more.”

Truthfully, Jon and Sansa’s sex life had been robust throughout her pregnancy until recently. When she suddenly started to swell, he had backed off and she could count on one hand the times he’s placed his cock inside her this past month.

“No, there’s no staying back and still being able to complete the act anymore,” Jon said a little sadly. “I won’t risk hurting you and I can’t manage it otherwise.”

Sansa sighed and worried her eyebrows together. This wouldn’t do at all. She still had two moons until this babe would be out and she couldn’t imagine not having him inside her for that long. Also, considering the birth, it would be even longer after that. No, Sansa decided, her husband deserved more.

She lifted his hand off hers and rolled onto her side, giggling at the ridiculousness of all of her movements. She felt so cumbersome lately.

“What are you...?” Jon asked.

Sansa manouvered herself onto her hands and knees on their bed and looked at him invitingly.

“Sansa, no,” Jon said.

“Yes, I want this,” Sansa said as she sat back on her heels and looked at him seriously. “I am asking you to.”

“But it’s from behind,” Jon said, pointing out the obvious. They had only had sex in this position a couple of times to get her with a babe.

“I do undertand that Jon,” Sansa laughed. “I need you inside me and if this is the way to accomplish that...”

“I can wait, we can...we can do other things,” Jon said as he shook his head in the negative.

“Honestly, I can’t stand your seed in my mouth at this point, it makes me want to vomit and...” Sansa started.

“But a few nights ago...” Jon said, confused.

“I got through it fine, but I’d like to avoid it if I can,” Sansa said slightly ashamed she had lied to her husband about enjoying the act.

“Sansa, you should have said,” Jon said hurt. “I never would have...”

“I know, and I am sorry,” Sansa said. “It’d just been so long and...”

“So, how do I know that this isn’t the same? You trying to please me despite being unhappy?” Jon asked as he sat up to look at her squarely.

“Because I’m telling you it’s so,” Sansa said as she took his hand. “I won’t pretend again, I promise.”

Jon rubbed at his beard and shook his head.

“I do want this,” Sansa said. “Quite badly, I’m ashamed to admit. I feel like I can’t get enough of you, lately.”

“Sansa...” Jon said softly.

“Please,” she pleaded as she got back on all fours and wiggled her arse at him.

Jon laughed at the image before him. His very pregnant wife on all fours in a see-through nightie shaking her arse at him.

He sighed and kissed her lips. “If you want to stop you say, and I will.”

“I always know that Jon,” Sansa said with a smile as she watched him climb behind her.

Instead of immediately getting inside her though, he pushed up her dress and tossed his over her head and onto the bed so she was completely naked before him. Her gorgeous round belly glistening in the candlelight, her red hair on fire, and her glowing face turning to look at him.

She heard him shucking off his clothes behind her and knew without even turning back that he was completely naked as well. He planted his two open palms on her hips and slowly pushed himself inside her wet passge.

“Gods,” Sansa moaned as he filled her.

Jon gently moved in and out of her in a steady rhythm making her rock back and forth with him. One of his hands moved from her hip to her breast and finally settled on her belly as he rocked her from behind. He groaned and sighed with each building sensation and felt her muscles contract and release against his hand as her hard belly undulated with him.

“Gods you are brilliant,” Jon said as he finally felt his release coming on. 

“You feel so... unbelieveable,” Sansa sighed as she felt herself rising to a peak.

“Can I push more?” Jon asked. “I don’t want to...”

“Yes, gods, yes,” Sansa said as she smacked herself back against him.

Jon pulled out and slapped into her hard a couple of times before they both screamed out in ecstasy both reaching their joy at the same time.

Jon hunched over her sweaty back and reached around her torso to feel her entire stomach with both hands.

A hard kick followed by another one hit his hands and they both started to laugh. The babe was always more active after his mother had been satisfied.


	46. 46

“And she wants you to come to King’s Landing, why exactly?”

“She wants me to arrive with a representative from each Northern House that has pledged to her as a show that the North is behind her,” Jon explained as he watched her read the missive.

“The baby is due next moon,” Sansa said as she shook her head. “Does she realize that?”

“She does,” Jon said resigned.

Sansa rolled up the missive and handed it to him. “Well then, you must go.”

Jon closed his eyes and sighed. “I know.”

He crouched down in front of her and placed both hands with palms on her very pregnant belly. 

“I’ll send out ravens immediatetly and leave in the next two days,” Jon said as he kissed her belly. 

“It’s not much notice for...”

“Aye, it isn’t, but the sooner I leave the sooner I return,” Jon mumbled against the material taunt on her belly.

“We’ll be here when you return, I’ll send a raven when he’s born,” Sansa said as she patted his head. “You won’t be the first man away at the birth of your child. Father didn’t see me until I was almost a month old.”

“I know, but...”

“You have duties beyond me, Jon,” Sansa reminded him. “And there must be an issue in King’s Landing if she needs this show.”

“She hasn’t ever indicated...but that means nothing,” Jon sighed as he kissed her belly one more time and rose to his feet.

He held out his hand to her and she rose as well. 

“You hardly slept last night,” Jon said as he looked at her tired eyes. “You need a nap.”

“I can’t get comfortable and he kicks throughout the night and rests in the daylight hours,” Sansa said as she rubbed her belly and walked with him.

“He’s strong, I can feel his kicks while I sleep,” Jon chuckled.

“Try feeling them inside you,” Sansa said as she chuckled to herself. 

Jon helped her slowly climb the stairs.

“Despite my complaining I already love him so,” Sansa said as she smiled at Jon. “And I want another right away.”

Jon chuckled. “Let’s get this one born safely first.”

“We need to decide a name before you go,” Sansa said as they reached the landing. “Everyone is sure it’s a boy, but we should choose a girl in case.”

“Fine, but not one soul has said girl,” Jon said as they walked down the hall.

“I like Anice,” Sansa said with a smile. “It means Grace.”

“Anice Targaryen,” Jon sounded out the name. “It sounds nice.”

“I came across one that if she has red hair would be perfect,” Sansa chuckled.

“Only if she has red hair?” Jon asked, interested as he opened the door to their rooms.

“Fira,” Sansa said. “Fira Targaryen.”

“Fire?” Jon asked.

“Yes, and ardent,” Sansa smiled. “But only if she’s a red-head.”

“Fine,” Jon chuckled.

He helped her settle on their bed and pulled some furs to cover her.

“And the boy name? We’re settled?” Sansa asked, her eyes heavy.

“Melle Targaryen,” Jon said with a smile. “Mighty Wolf.”

Sansa returned his smile. 

“Sleep, my love,” Jon kissed her softly on the lips and then he bent lower, removed the furs and kissed her belly. “And you give your mother some peace, Melle or Anice or...?”

“Fira,” Sansa said with a yawn.

“Or Fira,” Jon chuckled. “Allow your mother an afternoon’s rest.”

Jon covered her again and kissed her forehead before he left her to rest.


	47. 47

“You’re sure Max packed your…?” Sansa queried.

“I am,” Jon interrupted.

“It’s just, I don’t want you to…”

Jon kissed her soundly. “"And I love you for taking care of me. ”

Sansa smiled back.

“Where is the baby cradle?” Jon inquired

“Waryn is still working on it,” Sansa said. 

Jon nodded his head in understanding. 

"Be safe and make no promises you cannot keep, but tell her sensitive things in private,“ Sansa advised. 

Jon wrapped her in his arms and kissed her head. "I will. " 

Sansa allowed her body to melt into his as much as it could, considering her belly. 

"And you take care of yourself and him,” Jon whispered into her hair. “I’m so sorry for this. " 

"It’s not your…" 

Jon stepped back and looked at her seriously. "I love you with everything that I am. " 

Sansa felt her eyes well with tears. It had been happening more and more lately. 

"And I love you,” Sansa said softly. “I’ll send a raven" 

“And I’ll send one when I get to King’s Landing,” Jon said before he kissed her forehead.

"What middle name do you want for a boy?” Sansa asked. 

"Middle?“ He asked confused. 

"I hear it’s common for Targaryen families…" 

Jon looked at her strangely and thought for a moment.

"Maybe Jon?” Jon suggested. “Seems a little much to have two names though….we are Northern. " 

"Okay,” Sansa sighed. “Just one. " 

"The next one can be Jon, then Fira, then Anice, then Rickon then…”

"Do you plan to have me with babe the rest of my days?“ Sansa laughed. 

"I plan to be inside you as much as possible the rest of mine…with that comes babes,” Jon growled before he leaned in and kissed her passionately.

"I’m going to hold you to that,“ Sansa smiled against his lips.


	48. 48

“You didn’t tell him about the second babe?” Sam asked her when the gate shut long after Jon and his men had left for King’s Landing.

“He would worry,” Sansa said quietly.

“Sansa you’ve known for weeks,” Sam said quietly. “The babies could come any day.”

“And I thank you for keeping my secret,” Sansa whispered. “And it’s a good thing I did, or he never would have left for King’s Landing.”

“I still think it was his choice to make,” Sam grumbled.

“Do you know what she would do if he failed to support her?” Sansa asked as she turned to face Sam with her hand on her belly. “I want them born into a safe house, not one at war.”

Sam nodded in agreement.

“I’ve called for a midwife to assist,” Sam said as he offered her his arm. “She should be arriving today.”

“Thank you,” Sansa said with a nod. “But I want you to birth them, Sam. I’ve heard midwives will kill one to save the other.”

“It is a practice,” Sam nodded.

“I want two children, Sam,” Sansa said seriously.

“I know, and I will do my best to accomplish that,” Sam said as he helped her up some stairs. “Gilly would like to help with feeding, or I can look into…”

“She’ll have enough milk for Edeith and can help with my babes if needed?” Sansa asked.

“She can,” Sam nodded. “Gilly has enough milk for many babes, it would help her as well, my Queen.”

“That would make me very happy,” Sansa said with a smile. “I hope to have enough but…”

“It’s settled then,” Sam said as he stopped before her chambers. “I’ll send Fanny up to watch over you and I’d perfer if you walked around as much as possible but stayed away from stairs.”

“You take good care of me, Sam,” Sansa smiled up at him.

“I try, my Lady,” Sam smiled back.


	49. 49

Jon couldn’t help the feeling that something was off. Something to do with the Dragon Queen needing this show, something with Sansa and her easy acceptance of his leave.

As he rode towards King’s Landing day after day he couldn’t shake that feeling from his person. The Dragon Queen must sense an uprising or an…uneasiness in her people if she needed him and the North. And he didn’t ride alone.

He rode with Quinton Kronos, Reed Frankum, Lady Mormont, Lord & Lady Vorray, Lord Sprat, Lord & Lady Cary and they were picking up Lady Gooden at Hawksbury castle tomorrow evening. They were supposed to be there resting tonight but the size of the party and various riding abilities meant a day behind schedule already. They were quite the assembled group with various squires, maids,children, and guards. They were not arriving to King’s Landing quietly.

The journey was supposed to take almost 6 weeks there, a stay of an undetermined amount of time, and a 6 week journey home. If he saw his child by his 6 moon birthday it would be a miracle. And yet, Sansa agreed to the journey easily, perhaps she sensed a need for him to show devotion that staying with her would not?

“The Cary children are going to need a rest my King,” Max said as he rode up alongside Jon.

“At this pace, I’ll be lucky if I see my son’s first birthday,” Jon mumbled under his breath.

“Pardon, Sir?” Max asked.

“Nothing,” Jon mumbled. “But we need to get to Red Leaf Village by nightfall, so if we are to stop we need to pick up the pace.”

“I will inform the others,” Max nodded as he pulled his horse about.

Soon afterwards the party was all resting near a cave while Lady Cary’s servants fed and dealt with the children who seemed to suddenly be bursting with new energy.

Jon sat on a log away from the group, he was not in a good mood for company. They had been on the road for three days and it already felt like three weeks. As much as he wanted to believe it, the journey to King’s Landing was going to be longer than six weeks and that irritated him to no end. He closed his eyes and pictured Sansa large with child reclining on a chair reading one of her books of poety and a smile formed on his lips.

“A good memory?” Lady Mormont asked as she walked towards him, her feet crunching in the snow.

“Aye, that it is,” Jon smiled at her.

“Your beautiful wife is in her last moon of pregnancy?” She asked as she sat on another log nearby.

“That she is, my Lady,” Jon nodded.

“And you are bothered by being here instead of there?” She inquired.

“It’s an honor to serve the Dragon Queen,” Jon answered tackfully.

“It is,” Lady Mormont smiled at him. “But there is only ever one first child.”

Jon gave her a tight lipped smile and lifted his animal skin to his lips.

“I’ve heard murmurrings about an unhappy Lord Baelish making life difficult for the Dragon Queen?” She asked.

“I’ve heard much the same,” Jon nodded.

“Perhaps that is why we are called,” Lady Mormont said thoughtfully.

“More likely than not, I imagine,” Jon said.

Lady Mormont sat back and looked at the Cary children running about.

“I don’t understand the draw to have children,” she mused.

“Heirs? Love? A desire to parent?” Jon offered.

Lady Mormont smiled at him. “I will one day have an heir, maybe another for good measure, but they have...seven? I don’t understand that.”

Jon chuckled at her observation.

“The Carys aren’t a love match, why so many children?” Lady Mormont asked.

Jon blushed and rubbed at his beard. He had an answer for her, but wasn’t sure she wanted it.

“He likes taking her to his bed,” Lady Mormont nodded as she observed Jon. “And with bedding comes babes.”

Jon nodded in agreement.

“Well, I guess once I have my heir, my husband will have to bed others so I don’t find myself in the place of Lady Cary,” Lady Mormont mused.

“If that is your wish,” Jon said, trying not to chuckle. 

“You think I’ll change my mind once I am bedded?” Lady Mormont asked with a small smile.

“I think you wouldn’t be the first, my Lady,” Jon chuckled before he took another drink.


	50. 50

Sansa grunted and screamed as another spasm racked over her body. She gripped onto the wall beside her and Fanny supported her other arm. 

“My Lady is in pain,” Fanny pleaded with the midwife.

“Birthing is pain,” Helda, the midwife said with no sympathy.

“There must be something...” Fanny asked as she looked toward Gilly for help.

“Sam’s gone to make a poutice and some tea for the Queen,” Gilly offered. “The more she walks the better.”

Sansa took a couple of steps and doubled over in pain.

Just then Sam came into the room looking frazzled.

“Let’s have you lay down and put this on your back,” Sam said as he offered a poultice.

“She needs to walk!” Helda snapped at him.

“She hasn’t sat for a while,” Gilly told Sam.

“She needs a rest,” Sam said as he reached for Sansa and helped her walk toward her bed.

“Why am I here?” Helda asked, annoyed.

“To assist!” Sam snapped at the woman who had been annoying him for days.

“She’s labouring too long,” Gilly whispered to him. Fanny overheard and gasped.

“What?” Sansa asked as she rolled onto her side for the poultice.

“We’re worried about the time that it’s taking...” Sam said to her, honestly.

“What can we do?” Sansa asked.

“I can push down on the womb,” Helda explained. “Or we can rip out one to make room for the other one.”

“Sam...” Sansa pleaded.

“Drink this tea,” Sam offered. “It will start the birthing.”

Sansa nodded and reached for the cup.

“No tea will...” Helda started.

“Enough!” Sam snapped. “Please leave us for a while. Go and...eat.”

Helda humphed and walked out of the room banging the door behind her.

“Bar the door from that evil witch!” Sansa screamed as Fanny quickly grabbed the tea from her hand and she screamed with another contraction.

Once it passed Sam handed her the mug again. “Drink it all, they’ll come quicker and so will the babes.”

Sam watched her drink the tea. She’s been in labour an entire day and that was dangerous for her and the babes.

Within an hour Sam had been proven correct as she pushed one beautiful girl out followed by another. The bleeding continued and Sam had trouble loosening the afterbirth. Sansa started to mumble as Sam handed bloodied cloth after cloth to Gilly and Fanny cried as she held both babes. 

“Hand me the paste!” Sam called as Gilly dropped the bloodied cloths on the floor and handed him the mortar and pestle. 

“She’s closed her eyes!” Fanny shrieked.

“Sansa!” Sam called to her and her eyes opened again. Her breathing was irregular but she was still with them.

“Jon...” Sansa whispered.

“I sent an raven to Hawksbury many hours ago,” Sam said as he worked quickly to apply the paste and stop the bleeding in her womb.

“The babies...” Sansa asked.

“Two lovely girls,” Fanny said as tears ran down her face. “Crying well.”

Sansa smiled and Gilly took the babes one at a time from Fanny and placed them with Sansa.

“Your girls need you, my Queen, you must fight,” Gilly offered as she tucked the babes securely around Sansa. “And your King needs you.”

Sansa nodded and seemed to slip in and out of waking.

“My Queen?” Gilly asked her, loudly, drawing her out of her sleep.

Sansa opened her eyes and looked blurry-eyed at Gilly.

“What do you wish to name them?” Gilly asked, trying to keep her awake as Sam worked.

“Jon knows...” Sansa said in a whisper. “Tell Jon...”

“He’s coming, and you can tell him yourself my Queen,” Gilly said encouragingly as the first babe started to wail again.

“Opine...it needs to be her,” Sansa said softly as she licked her lips.

“Her, my Queen?” Fanny asked confused.

“She needs a drink and knows not what she says...” Gilly said as she reached for the water.

“Marry Opine,” Sansa said as she grabbed Gilly’s arm. “Promise you’ll tell him.”

Gilly looked between Sansa and Sam and nodded solemnly.

“I promise my lady, but you won’t need to worry...”Gilly started.

“Seven hells!” Sam yelled as he looked at the afterbirth.


	51. 51

Jon raced back to Winterfell with only one thought on his mind–his family. When he was sitting talking with Lady Mormont the squire they had sent to ride ahead to Hawsbury to explain their absence, came back galloping and Jon knew instantly it was Sansa.

In the end it wasn’t Sansa who sent the raven to Hawksbury but Sam telling him his worries about Sansa and the babes that were refusing to leave her belly. Lady Gooden had immediately sent a man to them with the news and he’d met Jon’s squire along the way.

Jon prayed to any god that would hear him as he rode. He prayed for the safety of his wife and the arrival of his children. Children. They weren’t born yet, but Sam knew there was more than one, a detail both he and Sansa had kept from Jon.

It was two days ride to Winterfell; three days they’d been absent due to slow progress. Jon planned to be at Sansa’s side in a day if possible. He hadn’t realized until two hours in that Max was riding just behind him, the ever loyal squire.

They stopped to rest the horses only twice but Jon could not find sleep, he paced and begged the gods to save her, to save their children. And the moment the horses were rested he mounted his and rode on. 

When he finally saw Winterfell he wanted to scream for his horse to be lifted and brought there, but he rode on. And when they got to the gates they opened immediately for the King and he quickly mounted to steps to their room.

“Sansa?” He gasped as he whipped open the door.

His wife lay in her bed pale as a ghost, sleeping and un-moving.

“My King!” Gilly yelled as she rose from her spot feeding a baby on a chair.

“Is she…?” Jon asked, unable to say the words.

“She’s alive but she lost a lot of blood, Sam…”

“Oh thank the gods,” Jon cried as he fell to his knees and placed his head on the ground.

“Your majesty do you want…” Gilly asked, frozen in her spot, a babe still on her breast.

Jon got up off the floor and with tears in his eyes walked toward the bed where Sansa lay, shallowly breathing.

“My love…” Jon said as he kissed her forehead and pressed his cheek to hers.

Gilly quickly walked from the room with the babe still attached.

“Sansa,” Jon said softly as he kissed her eyes. “Wake up…you need to…”

“Jon!” Sama gasped as he ran into the room with Gilly trailing him.

“What happened Sam? Why didn’t she tell me there were…” Jon suddenly stopped speaking when he noticed the babe on Gilly’s breast.

Gilly reached down and popped the child off her nipple and handed her to Jon. “This is the first girl.”

She then gestured toward the cradle. “The youngest is in there.”

Jon carefully held the red headed girl in his hands and looked down at her. She was beautiful and perfect. 

“Two girls?” He asked with a smile.

“Both healthy,” Sam said with a smile. “Gilly is feeding them until Sansa can.”

Jon leaned over and kissed his daughter on her forehead as she squirmed.

“She is the image of Sansa,” Jon said softly as he studied his daughter.

“The other girl is bald yet but has blue eyes also,” Gilly offered as she watched Jon with his daughter.

Jon looked toward the cradle and saw a tiny bundle sleeping inside.

“Has Sansa woken at all?” Jon asked.

“She’s been in and out of waking,” Sam explained. “She lost a lot of blood.”

Jon smiled when his daugher started to suck on his hand.

“How much blood?” Jon asked.

“Too much,” Sam said. “Uh, Gilly, can you…?”

Gilly took the baby and went back to feeding her in the corner.

Sam lifted the furs and showed Jon a series of glasses on her belly and the round marks in other areas of her belly.

“I’m trying to draw blood to the affected area,” Sam explained. “Her afterbirth was torn…I had to find the piece that was missing before the bleeding stopped.”

Jon closed his eyes.

“Why didn’t she tell me there were two?” Jon asked as he caressed a red welt on her hip.

“She didn’t want you to delay your journey to Kings Landing and upset the Dragon Queen; she feared war,” Sam said simply.

Jon nodded his head and covered Sansa up with furs before he lay his head on her legs.

Sam watched him for a long time and covered him with a blanket when he saw he’d fallen asleep. Sam escorted Gilly and the babies from the room and stoked the fire to keep them warm throughout the night.

Just as Sam got to the door he heard Jon’s voice.

“Is she going to die, Sam?” Jon asked, his voice sounding hoarse.

“I hope not,” Sam said simply. “I’ll be back to check on her in a few hours. If she wakes make her drink what’s on the table.”

Sam heard a Northern grunt come from Jon and he nodded. But after he shut the door Sam was sure he heard a deep, horrible, sob.


	52. 52

Jon woke to wet furs under his head.

He lifted his head up disoriented and saw Sansa looking down at him dreamily.

“Sansa?” He asked with a smile. “Love?”

Sansa’s eyes flittered shut, a smile on her lips.

“You need to drink…” Jon said as he reached for the cup on her nightstand. It smelled horrible but Sam had said it was needed. Jon put it to her lips and sat her up slightly. She swallowed once and turned her head.

“Love you need to…” Jon said as he tried to encourage her to drink more.

Jon lay her back down and touched the wet furs, confused. He pulled them back and saw Sansa’s leaking breasts. 

He closed his eyes, of, course she was supposed to be feeding the babes.

He covered her and called for Max, who had been sleeping in the hallway outside the door, to get Sam and Gilly with the babes.

Minutes later Sam and a very tired Gilly walked into the room each carrying one of his daughters.

“Her milk…” Jon gestured towards his wife. “Don’t the babes need feeding?”

“We tried many times,” Sam explained. “It’s not working well and the babes get frustrated…”

“They are young and need help getting on the nipple,” Gilly explained. “And she had milk but they can’t get it.”

Jon looked back at his wife and asked for one of the babies to be handed to him. He kissed his youngest daughter on her forehead and pulled back the furs exposing Sansa. He then put the child’s mouth against Sansa’s red nipple.

“Wait!” Sam called as he stepped closer. “She’s starting to get infected. Gilly we need…”

Gilly took the babe back from Jon as he pulled her back against his chest.

“We need to work the milk from her, as if she’d been feeding or it’ll cause a fever..” Sam said as he rolled back his sleeves and looked toward Jon for permission to touch his wife’s breasts.

He massaged the breast and some milk came out but not as much that should. They both watched perplexed as Sansa started to moan. Sam pulled his hand back quickly and looked at Jon with a red face. 

“Maybe you should…” Sam stammered.

Jon put his hand on Sansa’s breast and started to massage her milk towards her nipple with no better result.

Jon felt Sansa’s hand touch his leg and his eyes jumped to her face.

“We’re trying…I’m trying to help you,” Jon said as he continued to massage her breast hating that she was not in her head to agree to any of this. “You can’t feed the babes and you are getting an infection.”

Sansa weakly nodded and closed her eyes.

“She has stoppers,” Gilly said as she leaned over the pair of them. “She needs more than pushing.”

“Stoppers?” Jon asked, confused.

“Some of the nibblers are stoppered, probably milk that’s too thick to come through,” Gilly said matter-of-factly. “It needs to have a strong suck.”

“Pardon?” Jon asked, surprised.

“When others had stoppers in my house growing up another mum would help,” Gilly said. “Do you want me or Fanny…?”

Jon looked back at his wife and her red breasts and realized he was the best one to help her. 

“No, we’ll be fine,” Jon said as he covered her breasts.

“Should I leave the babes or…?” Gilly asked.

Jon looked at his two daughters tucked into the crib and smiled.

“No, they’re better with you for now,” Jon said quietly. “Thank you Gilly, for everything.”

Gilly nodded. “You should name them so they know who they are.”

Jon walked toward the girls and took the bald one in his arms. 

“Avrice, means Grace and your mum loves that name,” he said before he kissed her bald head. “Anice Targaryen.”

Gilly nodded and switched babies with him.

“Your mummy said if you had red hair she wanted to name you Fira,” Jon whispered to the sleepy child before he missed her head. “Fira Targaryen.”

“Lovely names,” Sam said as he patted Jon on the back.

Jon handed the baby to Sam and looked back towards Sansa. “How much?”

“Until they’re not so large and hard,” Sam said.

“And every time they get large again,” Gilly advised.

Jon nodded and watched them leave with his daughters.

He walked toward Sansa and knew he needed her to be okay with this before he did this to her. She had been violated too many times and he promised he’d never be a man who took advantage of her position as his wife. Yes, it was to help her, but it still felt…wrong without her agreement.

“Sansa, love…” Jon said as he gently tapped her cheek. 

Her eyes opened and she groaned and reached for her chest.

“Sam says to help I need to suckle you,” Jon said as he kept tapping her cheek to help her stay awake. “Can I?”

Sansa groaned again and tried to roll onto her stomach. A strangled dry scream came from her as a breast was pressed into the bed.

“Love…love…stay awake a moment more, then you can sleep,” Jon said as he shook her slightly. “I need to relieve your breasts.”

Sansa clutched at his leg and nodded. She slipped back into sleep as Jon leaned over and took a nipple in his mouth. He sucked at it and Sansa sobbed. Jon immediately let go and looked down at the nipple. He felt it; hard as stone.

“Let me try again,” Jon said as he leaned back over a nipple. He’d suckled her dry breasts many a time, but this…this felt different.

He latched his mouth over her nipple and slowly sucked. Her sobbing continued and he was just about to stop when watery sweet liquid trickled into his mouth. Jon sucked more and felt more liquid in his mouth. He smiled and fell off the nipple.

“It’s working, love, just a little more, until they are soft,” Jon explained as he kissed her cheek and then went back to her breast.


	53. 53

“Aren’t you too old for that?” Her raspy weak voice asked.

Jon’s head popped up off her breast and he stared at her astomished.

“Sansa…” he gasped as he looked at her open eyes and her pale face. “How do you feel?”

Jon kissed her quickly on the lips and sat back waiting for her answer.

“Horrible,” she sighed. “I’m soaked through.”

“We changed you once in the night and then Gilly was going to come in soon to change you again,” Jon explained.

“Our daughters?!” Sansa shrieked suddenly as her memories solidified.

“Beautiful,” Jon smiled at her. It was the most awake she’d been in over two days since his return and he couldn’t help but thank every god imaginable for having his wife back.

“Safe? Healthy?” Sansa asked, suddenly seeming agitated.

“Gilly and Sam have been caring for them and Gilly’s been feeding them for you, until you can,” Jon explained.

“I need to see them, Jon,” Sansa said as she attempted to sit up in bed and fell back.

“Don’t get agitated,” Jon cautioned her. “I’ll get them for you. Just lay down.”

Jon hesitated a moment and then went to the door to ask Max to get Gilly and the babes and tell Sam Sansa was awake. He was almost scared to turn back around for fear she had slipped back into sleep.

But when he turned he saw Sansa patting her breasts and crying.

“Have they eaten enough? Are they starved?” She sobbed as she patted her hard breasts.

“No, Gilly has plenty of milk,” Jon said as he walked to her side and sat back down on the chair. “You were getting an infection from not feeding them, so I had to keep your milk flowing and get rid of stoppers.”

“Am I…is the milk okay?” Sansa asked as she appriased her breasts.

“I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be like, but it started out thicker but now is more liquid and sort of sweet,” Jon explained. “And I haven’t become ill.”

“You did this so my milk would flow for the babes?” Sansa asked, wide-eyed.

“Aye, and so you wouldn’t get an infection,” Jon nodded bashfully.

“Gods Jon, I can’t…you saved all of us and…” Sansa stammered as large tears started to fall from her eyes.

Jon clasped her hand in his and looked at her carefully. “I would do anything to save you and those girls. Anything.”

A sob raked over Sansa and she cringed from the pain in her breasts and her groin.

“Settle down so you don’t harm yourself,” Jon said as he kissed her temple.

“How many days has it been?” Sansa asked.

“The girls were born four days ago,” Jon said. “I’ve been with you for two and a half days.”

“Four Days…” Sansa gasped.

Jon eyed her very hard breasts.

“Do you want to feed the babes right away or do you want me to finish?” Jon asked as he looked at her with an arched eyebrow. 

“You’ve been suckling me for over two days?” Sansa asked with a chuckle.

“Aye, and I’ve come to quite like it,” Jon laughed. “You may need to accomodate me.”

Sansa laughed at his joke and quickly covered herself as Sam and Gilly walked in with her daughters.

‘Thank the gods,” Sam said as he walked in carrying one child.

Gilly was all smiles as she handed Sansa the little red-headed girl.

“My lovely girls,” Sansa said as tears fell from her eyes.

“Fira?” Sansa asked as she looked at Jon. 

Jon was taking the other babe from Sam and he nodded in agreement.

“Aye, Fira and Anice Targaryen,” Jon said proudly as he held his daughter. “The sweetest girls of the North.”

“How are you feeling my lady?” Sam asked as he looked down at Sansa holding her babe.

“Sore and tired and wet,” Sansa said, not taking her eyes off her daughter.

“I was coming to change you with the King,” Gilly said before she went to their dressing room to find another nightgown for the Queen.

“You should try feeding them right away so they suckle well,” Sam said as he felt her forehead and looked into her eyes. “And drink this, it’s a blood replenisher.”

“It looks disgusting,” Jon said as he eyed the contents of the cup and smelled it.

“It is, but she needs to get more blood in her,” Sam said as he watched Gilly come back. “I’ll leave while you change but I need to do an exam at some point this morning.”

Sansa nodded and watched Jon place one babe in a cradle. He then came to take the other from her.

Sansa kissed her daughter on the forehead and handed her to her husband.

He then returned and helped guide her to a sitting position.

“Oh gods, I feel sick,” Sansa said before she leaned over the side of her bed and vomited all over Jon’s leg and boot.

“I’m sorry,” she cried as she looked down at the sick.

“It’s fine, just get it out” Jon said softly as he held her and rubbed her back. She vomitted anew and then turned looking for something to wipe her mouth. 

Jon let go of her with one arm and wiped her mouth with his sleeve before he went back to holding her.

“Jon, you should ask Fanny to…” Sansa started, embarassed.

“I can care for my wife,” Jon said with conviction. 

“You shouldn’t have to see all of this, do all of…”

Jon leaned in so his face was almost touching hers.

“There’s nothing about you that is bothersome, I love you and I want to care for you and see you well,” Jon said clearly before he pulled her up into his arms while Gilly quickly rushed around and changed the bedding.

“Jon,” Sansa cried as she buried her face in his neck. “You are like no other King.”

“Which is why I needed a queen like no other,” he smiled into her hair.


	54. 54

One week later Sansa was bidding Jon farewell. Apparently their travel party wasn’t much more than a week’s journey away; Jon and Max would easily catch up. He’d sent a raven to the Dragon Queen announcing the birth of his daughters and said he would be re-joining the party and arriving at King’s Landing with the rest of the Northerners.

He didn’t want to leave and Sansa was barely healthy enough for him to go, but duty called.

“How many months?” Sansa asked wearily.

“I’m thinking six total,” Jon sighed as he ran his finger over Anice’s perfect cheek.

“They’ll be crawling by the time you return,” Sansa said, trying to be positive.

“Aye,” Jon said softly. “And I’ll be a stranger.”

“I’ll tell them all about you,” Sansa said quietly. 

“Hopefully this is the last long journey for a while,” Jon sighed as he placed Anice in her craddle with a kiss.

“I’m thinking her council must want a show of force from the North,” Sansa said as she passed Jon Fira. “Almost to scare everyone into submission.”

“The dragons don’t do enough of that?” Jon asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sansa laughed at his joke and he smiled at her. It was good to see her more herself; still confined to a bed, but more Sansa.

Jon looked down at Fira and softly ran his fingers over her baby-fine red tresses. 

“I’ll miss the smell of them,” Jon said softly as he smelled his daughter’s head.

“They do smell lovely,” Sansa said as she smiled at their daughter.

“They smell like you,” Jon said as his eyes met hers. 

“They are with me all the time…” Sansa said jovially.

“Aye, I’ll miss that as well,” Jon said thoughtfully. “Waking up with one of them at your breast and the other sleeping soundly next to me.”

“We’ll keep your spot warm,” Sansa said as she touched his arm.

Jon nodded quickly and walked over to place Fira in her cradle. 

“I’ll see you and the babes in six months?” Jon asked as he turned to her, worry on his face.

“And by then they’ll be able to smile at you,” Sansa said as she tugged at his leg and made him sit on their bed with her. “We’ll be fine.”

“You’ll not over do it? You’ll get help when…”

“You’re like a mother hen, yourself,” Sansa said as she leaned forward. “Now kiss me before you go, so I’m happy to have you back.”

Jon laughed at her joke and leaned forward, taking her in his arms and kissing her thoroughly.

When he was done Sansa pulled back and looked at him with a dazed expression on her face. 

“You kissed me in a way that made me never want to let you leave,” she said wistfully.

“Good,” Jon said with a smirk before he kissed her nose and stood. “There’s another kiss like that promised on my return.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Sansa smiled at him.


	55. 55

Sansa,

We’ve finally managed to contain the damage caused by our friend. It’s a little un-nerving how quickly one man’s vision can be taken on by the masses. I have recently come back from the Eyrie and wanted nothing more than to stay on the road and come home to you and the girls.

Thank you for the latest drawing of them. Please thank Fanny for her talent, she has captured their eyes quite well. I wonder if Fanny would draw you with them next time? I miss you as much as I do them, and I feel a drawing of you would ease my soul just as much.

The Northern families are, thankfully, growing restless in King’s Landing and want to return home. I have been petitioning my Aunt on this cause quite often and hope she’ll grant us leave soon. With things under control now, I don’t see why not. I will send you a raven as soon as our leave is granted and ride alone North, for I can’t be held back by our party again–I would die if the ride home to my family was delayed by bad horseman and too many stops. I will plead my case to the Northern families and hope they understand a man’s need to see his wife and newborn children who now he has not laid eyes on for almost six moons.

Until that day,

Jon

“Oh Jon,” Sansa sighed as she watched her babes play with cups on the floor of her bedroom.

She clutched the letter to her chest and sighed, her eyes filled with tears. It had been six moons since their daughters were born and he had only spent but a few days with them. They had changed so much in that time. 

Gone from wailing sucking babes, to babes who made noises, clapped, smiled and now were starting to crawl. They were chubby little girls content with each other and their mother, who had barely laid eyes on their father.

Anice started to cry and squirmed toward her mother, clutching at her skirts.

“You’re hungry, love?” Sansa asked as she undid ties on her dress and revealed a breast to her daughter. 

Anice’s eyes went wide and she smacked her gums together.

“I’d say that’s a ‘yes’” Sansa laughed as she scooped up her daugher and placed her on her breast to eat.

Sansa picked up the letter and re-read it. He sounded more sad and more lonely with every letter and she felt an ache deep in her heart at that thought. He missed her, yes. But he probably spent hours studying the drawings she’d sent him. Fanny was getting better and better with her lines and the accuracy of her drawings was quite good. She even had managed to capture Fira’s mood in the last picture.

She knew, from the little information Jon had sent in his letters and the rumors that had been circulating, that the Eyrie was no longer under Lord Baelish’s control; hence Jon’s trip there. Robin had been entrusted to the care of Tyrion Lanister who, had become quite bored of the capital and wished to spend some years at the Eyrie until Robin is old enough to manage on his own.

Sansa looked down and saw Anice’s eyes slowly closing. She would put her down to nap, feed Fira and the same would happen with her. When her girls had full bellies they always needed sleep. It would give Sansa a chance to write back to Jon, and share her desire for his return to their home.


	56. 56

Jon walked quickly and quietly through the castle. He’d managed to get into Winterfell without much fanfare in the dead of night after riding steadily for three weeks. Right after he’d last written Sansa the Dragon Queen had released all Northerners of their duty in King’s Landing. None were as quick as Jon and Max to pack and be on the road. He hadn’t sent word to Sansa of his return, but wouldn’t be surprised if she’d heard of the North’s return from others.

He first went to their room where he found two beautiful babes, much too large to be his daughters sleeping peacefully in their cradles. Sansa was not present. He looked toward the night table where she almost always kept tea and saw her mug missing. After kissing his daughters carefully on their heads he made his way to the kitchen where he knew he’d find her.

Jon heard the crackle of a fire and the pacing of feet on the floor. He carefully rounded the corner and saw his beautiful wife, robe wrapped around herself, red braid down her back, and stocking feet pacing back and forth in front of the hearth.

“Sansa,” he said softly, not wanting to scare her.

“Jon?” She turned to look at him astonished.

He smiled at her and took one step forward only to be almost run over by his wife hurling herself into his arms.

“You’re home!” She cried as she launched her mouth at his.

“That I am!” He laughed as she planted kiss after kiss on his face. “And what a welcome!”

“It’s really you?” Sansa asked as she pinched at his cheek.

“I am no dream, my smell from the ride in will prove that,” Jon chuckled as he held her tight against his frame. “And how is my beautiful wife?”

“Lonely no more,” Sansa smiled at him as she stroked his hair. “Have you seen our daughters?”

“Sleeping upstairs,” Jon said as he smiled at her. “They can’t really be that big, can they?”

“They eat enough, well actually Fira eats enough, for several children,” Sansa chuckled. “She’s got an appetite and a temper.”

“And Anice?” Jon asked.

“Docile, amiable,” Sansa nuzzled his neck. “Like me.”

Jon laughed at her joke and he felt her breasts bounce up and down against his chest as she joined him. His cock, which had been at attention since the gates, twitched painfully. 

Sansa kissed his neck and it twitched again. She then kissed his ear and it twitched again.

“I can feel that you missed me,” she whispered into his ear.

“Aye, dreadfully,” Jon huffed as her hand found his cock and cupped it.

“Painfully,” Sansa teased as she nipped at his ear.

“Seven hells woman, do you want to make me spill in my pants?” Jon huffed.

“No, I want you inside me,” Sansa said seductively as she squeezed his cock a little more.

“Where’s cook?” Jon asked.

“Cook?” Sansa asked, surprised. “Visiting her sister for a couple of nights in…”

Her speech was cut short by Jon lifting her onto the table behind her and pulling her to the edge so her legs dangled.

“Jon, food is prepared here!” Sansa chastized.

“I will clean it personally after I have my way with you,” Jon said as he dropped his belt and started to undo his breaches.

“I can’t believe…” Sansa said as she looked around to ensure they were alone.

Her speech was cut short by his fingers inside her; cupping her peach and moving inside her.

“Oh gods,” Sansa moaned as she dropped her head back and arched her back toward him. If she was an instrument he knew exactly how to play her.

Jon kissed her neck, her collar, her shoulder and pushed aside her robe so he could kiss her breasts.

He suckled on her breasts and she felt her milk drop and start to flow into his needy, open mouth. 

“Oh seven hells,” Sansa moaned as she felt his fingers leave her and his cock take their place. She was electrified from within and felt she couldn’t catch her breath as ecstasy washed over her body.

Jon heaved against her, his hips bucking against her again and again, his movements wild and out of control as he held onto her buttocks and plunged into her time and time again while taking milk from her breast.

Then he pulled off of her breast and cried loudly as if he was in pain.

“Jon?” Sansa asked, startled.

He merely nodded his head and fell forward slightly, resting his head against her shoulder as he huffed against her chest.

“Are you alright?” Sansa asked, worried.

“Aye,” Jon gasped as he tried to compose himself. “I am now.”

Sansa stroked the back of his head.

“I love you,” she said softly. “I can’t believe how much I missed you.”

Jon chcukled softly and kissed her shoulder.

“Leaving you and our daughters was one of the hardest…” Jon started.

He stopped talking and Sansa raised up his chin with her hand so she could look at his face. A couple of tears had fallen from his eyes and he was attempting to wipe them away before she saw.

“You’re home with us now, my love,” Sansa said as she kissed away his salty tears. “You’re with your family.”


	57. 57

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Sansa asked Jon one night as he carefully walked into their room at an ungodly hour.

“You scared the daylights out of me!” Jon gasped as he walked toward her.

“You are avoiding my question,” Sansa said as she sat up in their bed. 

“I’ve been busy with work,” Jon said as he kicked off his boots and walked to the basin filled with water to wash.

“You’ve been home two months and I can count on one hand the times you’ve bedded me,” Sansa said as she watched him take off his tunic and drop it on a chair.

“I haven’t been keepiong track,” Jon said over his shoulder as he wiped his face.

“Jon…” Sansa said as she rose from their bed and walked toward him. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Sansa,” Jon said. ‘I’m just worn out catching up on Winterfell tasks and…”

“Was there someone at King’s Landing that you…?” Sansa asked, her voice not as strong as she’d hoped.

Jon pivoted on his heel and looked at her shocked. “Never.”

“Because it was many months and I’d understand if you needed someone to…” Sansa said bravely.

“How could you think that of me?” Jon asked, upset.

“Your a man and you have needs…maybe you feel guilty for…”

Jon dropped the linen he was holding and took her hands in his. “I have been faithful to you, always.”

“Then why are you avoiding our marriage bed?” Sansa asked, desperate.

Jon dropped her hands and swallowed hard.

“Please just tell me,” Sansa said as she stepped toward him and placed a hand on his bare chest. “I have been driving myself batty trying to puzzle this out.”

“I don’t want to risk you having another babe,” Jon said as he met her eyes. 

“What?” Sansa asked, startled.

“You were so sick…I almost…we almost lost you with the girls and…” Jon muttered.

“They were twins, Jon,” Sansa said as if that was all he needed to know.

“Aye, and maybe it’ll be the same with the next babe,” Jon said as he placed his hand over hers and trapped it against his chest. “I couldn’t bear it, Sansa.”

“I won’t have twins again,” Sansa said. “It is too unlikely and…”

“But possible,” Jon said. “And you could react the same way with just one babe, it doesn’t have to be twins.”

Sansa narrowed her eyes at him. “You have been speaking with Sam.”

“Aye, I have, and he said that your reaction to the babes, the loss of blood…all that, could happen again, could be worse next time,” Jon said, raising his voice.

“And it could not,” Sansa said as he kissed the corner of his mouth. “Jon, I won’t live my life in fear. I want more children. I want a boy, an heir for our family. And you holding yourself back…it’s not fair to me.”

“I’m thinking of our girls,” Jon said stoically,

“Then think how much they need a brother to be there for them when we no longer are,” Sansa said pointedly. “Because I’m thinking of that.”


	58. 58

“Stop pushing Sansa,” Sam instructed as she grunted on her bed.

“Oh gods,” Sansa groaned as she fell back against Jon’s chest.

“You’re doing great, love,” Jon encouraged her as Fanny wiped her brow.

“It hurts so much,” Sansa said weakly.

“I know, love, but Sam says not long and we’ll have another babe,” Jon said as he kissed the side of her face.

Fanny looked at him strangely, she wasn’t the only one to think he didn’t belong in the room with his wife, but there was no where else Jon could be.And much to all of the attendants horror, Jon sat himself behind his wife on their bed, holding her up, helping give her drink, and encouraging her.

When he finally came around to the idea of another child, Sansa got pregnant quite quickly. Anice and Fira weren’t quite two as yet, and they were going to welcome another child into their family.

“Okay, two strong pushes and that should be it,” Sam said out of breath as he watched the babe’s jet black head of hair sitting at Sansa’s opening.

“You can do this, love,” Jon said as he sat up and helped her push forward, holding her hands.

“When you’re re…” Sam started but was interrupted by Sansa grunting and screaming as she pushed the little babe out of her.

“Ahhhhh!” Sansa screamed one last time as the babe slipped out and into Sam’s waiting hands.

“You’re brilliant!” Jon laughed as he heard the strong cry of their newborn. 

Sansa fell back against him and felt all the energy fall from her body as well.

“I love you so much,” Jon said as he kissed the side of her face and slowly eased her back down so she was reclining more.

“She’s healthy and has a quite the voice!” Sam exclaimed.

“It’s a girl?” Jon asked, as he smiled from ear to ear.

“It’s a girl,” Sansa smiled softly as she closed her eyes.

“She’s all your colouring, Jon” Sam said to his friend as Gilly swaddled the babe. “Now, let’s get…”

Sam stopped talking and looked down between Sansa’s legs.

“What?” Jon asked as he sat up a little and looked between his wife’s legs.

“It’s good, Jon,” Sam assured him. “The afterbirth is already coming, that’s much better than last time.”

“Oh thank gods,” Jon sighed as he sat back again, wrapping his wife in a blanket. “Are you alright love?”

“Just tired,” Sansa said softly as she laid her head against his shoulder. “But happy.”

“Well, you rest, and allow us to take care of everything,” Jon said as he kissed her forehead. ‘I’m so incredibly proud of you.”

Sansa smiled.

“Here she is my Queen,” Gilly said as she handed Sansa a swaddled babe. 

“Aren’t you lovely,” Sansa coo’d as she held the sweet babe. “You were much easier than your sisters, yes, you were.”

“And that makes us so happy,” Jon said as he cupped the little girls head with the palm of his hand.

“She’s all you,” Sansa said as she smiled up at her husband.

“Aye, she is,” Jon smiled proudly. His other two girls were mostly Sansa, Fira with her bright red hair and Anice with her brown-red Tully hair. 

“You get your name then,” Sansa said as she smiled up at him.

“Only if you agree,” Jon chuckled. “After seeing all the work first hand, I shouldn’t take that right away from you.”

“No, I love it too,” Sansa smiled. “I was just teasing.”

“Well then,” Jon said as he leaned over his daughter and looked into her sleepy eyes. “Welcome to our family, Pearl Targaryen.”

“Pearl,” Sansa said as she kissed her daughter’s forehead. 

“It’s done,” Sam smiled up at them, breaking the moment. “You’ll need to get up in a bit so Gilly and Fanny can clean everything up but…it was a wonderful birth. You did very well, Sansa.”

Sansa smiled at Sam. “Thank you, Sam.”

Gilly placed a blanket over Sansa and smiled at the couple before she left the room with Fanny. 

Jon stayed behind Sansa, his arms wrapped around his wife and their newborn babe.

“Another beautiful little girl,” Sansa said with a smile. 

“Thank you for her,” Jon said, his voice cracking with emotion. “Thank you for all of them.”

Sansa stretched her neck and kissed his cheek before she placed Pearl on her breast to feed her.


	59. 59

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was the first ff I wrote for Jon/Sansa and I'm quite proud of it. That you for reading along and for all the comments and kudos.

Jon sat on the floor and watched his son Melle throw his carved horse across the room and laugh for the tenth time before he slowly got to his feet and toddled to retrieve it.

“Mummy, my braids pull!” Fira stormed into the room followed by Sansa and Anice with her head in a book.

“Don’t speak to your mother that way,” Jon warned his fiery daughter. “Or you’ll have me to answer to.”

Fira’s eyes lowered and she quickly apologized to her mother.

Sansa smiled at Jon and handed him a brush.

“Can you do something with his hair?” Sansa asked as he nodded to the lad in the corner attempting to pull the dog out from under a bench and not paying any heed to Max trying to fix his waist coat.

“It looks fine,” Jon said as he watched his son try and offer their dog a treat. “He doesn’t want to play right now, Wolfe.”

“They’ll be arriving any minute,” Sansa said as she took count of her children. ‘Where’s Pearl?” 

Jon looked about the room and had no answer. 

“She said Maurie could have the rest of her apple,” Wolfe explained.

“That bloody horse is all she ever thinks about,” Sansa mumbled under her breath. “She’s just had her tenth name day and she needs to start learning to stitch and…”

“She’ll be fine,” Jon said as he stood and placed a hand on Sansa’s protruding belly. “Don’t work yourself up or you’ll really have a show to put on for the Dragon Queen by delivering this babe in the courtyard”

Sansa laughed at his joke and moved his hand to the side where he could feel the babe kick hard. They were fortunate to have five healthy children over the last twelve years. Three girls came first, close and easy. Then a still born girl babe they named Fayelinn because she resided in the heavens with the fairies. It was a while before Wolfe came along but he came into the world literally howling. Then another boy Bassett was born, but he was much too small and only lived a few days. Last they had Melle, a happy little boy who wanted to please and was born so quickly Sam barely caught him. And now, as Jon felt the hard kick of another child in her belly he smiled.

“It’s a healthy girl,” he said as he kissed the side of her face.

“You’re sure?” Sansa asked.

“The girls are always the fiercest of them all,” Jon said with a smirk as he watched Fira pull the dog out from under the bench for her brother to pat. “They get it from their mother.”

Sansa leaned in and kissed Jon soundly on his mouth. 

“Why do you stay with me when I insanely keep insisting on more children?” Sansa smiled at him as she took in the chaos of their family.

“Because you let me kiss you, and warm your bed, and do all manner of naughty things,” Jon whispered to her.

“Ah, yes, I do remember now,” Sansa chuckled.

“They’re here! They’re here!” Pearl yelled as she ran into the room with straw in her hair.

“Anice, put down the book and fix your sister’s dress,” Sansa commanded.

Jon sighed and looked at his wife. “Why must this happen each year?”

“So you don’t have to travel to King’s Landing any more,” Sansa reminded him as she straightened his tunic.

“Ah, yes,” Jon sighed.

“Be a good host to your aunt and her husband, they won’t stay for long, she hates being around all the children,” Sansa reminded him.

“Another reason to have more,” Jon joked.

“Jon, stop,” Sansa chastized. “She’s been good to you and to us.”

“You’re right,” he conceded. 

“I’m always right,” Sansa reminded him.

“And that’s why we do so well together,” Jon joked.

“Really?” Sansa chuckled. “I thought it had to do with love?”

Jon leaned forward and kised the corner of her mouth. “That too.”


End file.
